Choices

Blog29:

          Which outfit today, the blue or the brown theme?  Should I push to get a few chores done now or drive early to my meeting place and avoid traffic?  Must I stop to pick up that turtle on the road or drive around it?  Must I wait or make a ‘go’ over the yellow light? 

          Choice of a direction or decision seems to hover unceasingly over our heads (and hearts?).  We are constantly weighing a move to make, a thought to verbalize. Doctors determine the urgency of strategy in a life/death emergency, and then choose to save a life rather than make planned decisions which patient gets served first.  Firefighters choose to seize the urgent call of preventing the spread of fire.  At any airport towers, traffic controllers watch fervently and choose safe paths for planes’ comings and goings; dilly-dallying has no place or a disaster occurs.

          Why do we make choices? 

For one, I think we do it to preserve and maintain a healthy body.  We choose to take care of what we put in our body so it would give us the right amount and needed nutrition.  We choose to exercise and keep our emotions on check to keep and maintain the rhythmic beating and complex functions of our systems.  We choose to physically rest in order to allow our body to heal from fatigue.  We inform one another of wholesome health practices, and put in place preventive measures that avoid spread of contagious and life-threatening illnesses. We choose to feed our minds reasonable, stimulating thoughts that turn our spirits to become fruitful. 

We opt to make a choice as well in order to ward off dangers or impending disasters.  There is truth to the adage, “An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure.”  We build sturdy infrastructure so as to avoid flooding.  We reforest denuded lands to replace what we have used, and to restore balance in our environments and habitats.  We put in place strategies and evacuation plans to protect lives in cases of tornadoes, earthquakes, storms.  We invite our vulnerable population to be aware and mindful of tactics by predators.  We keep our basic resources of water and food supply free from threats of contamination. 

To put meaning and purpose in life, we also choose to live together interdependently.  We do not choose entirely to live independent lives, although we love our personal differences, freedoms and spaces.  We are happier and more content when we bring the best in others.  We feel an inner satisfaction when we help someone get out of a tight situation.  We are lifted when we lift or support each other.  When we take action to share our resources and gifts, we elevate those of us who may need that special push to help them, while addressing material needs of the moment.  We can’t isolate ourselves from the worldliness of the world, but we can find the good, the right, and let those be reflected in our daily lives.  In so doing, we sow the fruits of goodness and invite others to choose the same.

It is evident that choices take us all to the crossroads of a dilemma at times. But whether or not we want to confront it is a tough call itself.  We must choose … at all cost.  When and if we do not, others inflict upon us their choices.  Choose, and let your choice count!