I’m sure there’s not a single one of us who couldn’t look
back on our life and find something we would like to change. Come on, you know there’s probably more than
just one! Just imagine, regardless of
your age, you could, no doubt, think of many things you’d like to change, if
you had an opportunity to do so.
But,
everything in your life, since you have been born, has been the results of
choices. They may have been choices that
you made or they could have been choices made by others. Sometimes we may not think exactly how often
these choices actually affect our lives.
Let’s think back at a possibility that may have been your
situation. You may be able to see
yourself in this situation or perhaps something similar.
When
you were a small child your Dad was in the military. It seemed that you were constantly moving from
one community to another. You had to
change schools so often you could barely remember what the name of your last
school was. These choices, made by your
parents, certainly had a tremendous affect on YOUR life! Every time
you moved you had to address the new school rules, create a new framework of
friends, also learn a new neighborhood, and many other things that would affect
your day-to-day life. For a moment imagine
that these constant moves NEVER
happened! Your Dad received a
permanent assignment at one base and you completed all your school years within
the same school system. Consider the
experiences you would never have had!
And with those changed circumstances you would have made a considerable
number of different choices. The
life you know NOW would have
never happened! You would be a
completely different person. And let’s consider
some additional possible changes.
Those
wonderful friends you made from all those school changes --- NEVER happened! Those connections and all the wonderful times
you remember, the work friends, class reunions, and all the contacts you may
have had from school would have never happened. That special friend you met in school, who
encouraged you to attend that
college where you found that wonderful person who became your mate --- NEVER happened! Your family life, your children, your
neighbors, all the things that have happened in your life because of those
crazy moves your family made when you were a child --- NEVER happened!
Of course, that being said, all the choices YOU had to make in your life would have changed depending upon the
circumstances you would have then had to face.
This short
discussion only looked at ONE choice
in ONE circumstance. We all know that life is more complicated
than that and we are continually making both small and large choices every
day. Some will probably have very little
effect on our lives within the big picture.
But, others will have “life altering” effects. We are the culmination of all the choices we
make during our lives. Any change in one
choice may ultimately affect many other areas. And it’s not only OUR
choices but the choices of all those people around us. This is generally referred to as the
butterfly affect.
We have
to remember that we are talking about choices.
So any time a situation calls for a decision, a choice must be
made. This choice can be a positive one
or a negative one. We can even procrastinate
on our decisions, thinking that we will just let time pass and NOT make
a decision. But, postponing a decision,
for whatever reason, is of itself a choice!
We cannot exist throughout ONE day without making choices and
these will ALL have some effect,
large or small, upon our lives. So we
owe it to ourselves and to all others around us to make the best choices we
can. The problem, of course, is that
we’re only human and at times, although we want to make the best choices
possible, what develops is the complete opposite.
QUOTE TO CONSIDER
THOUGHTFUL GEM
"If you can extend the hand of help,
DON'T hold it back."
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