ALL CHOICES COME WITH CONSEQUENCES
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I wish I had a dollar every time that thought crossed my mind. I would be willing to bet every accumulated dollar I acquired that you know exactly what I mean. What it all comes down to is making choices. Some make choices with very little thought and cross the bridge of consequences when they get to it. This might be just fine if that choice is something like whether to have one more bite of Boston cream pie or not, to avoid being sick to your stomach. You have a 50% chance in either direction. Some may feel that pie was well worth making themselves sick over. Besides, the sickness will soon pass and you’ll forget all about it. The memory of how good that pie was will go down with you in history, perhaps passed down for generations. And what awesome bragging rights will the creator of that pie has from now on. Even if you lose, you win. All the choices we face unfortunately are not so simple. All the choices we face do not have a win even if you lose ending. Some of those choices in fact can alter your life, perhaps even the lives of others for the rest of your natural lives. I’m not talking about choices that would be to choose between using good sense or not. I’m not even talking about choices on whether to be safe or not. I’m talking about choices we have to make that hurt others in such a way that they have trouble finding any merit in the words “I love you” when you say them. I’m talking about the choices we make that could have you sitting in a corner all alone at the next family gathering. I’m talking about choices we make that put a wall between you and someone you loved very much and you would give anything to tear that wall down. Only now it won’t matter that person is no longer alive. I’m sure you know that feeling, that pressure that overwhelms you when you are forced to make one of those choices. It’s so overwhelming that you would rather be dead yourself than have to make it. I have experienced all of these choices. I have lived with the choices I made. More importantly, I have learned a valuable lesson from them. I’m going to share that lesson with you. Before you make a life-changing choice think about it. Know the facts, know the truth, know what is right or wrong. Try to use logic, reasoning, and diplomacy. If you make your choice based on this you stand a lot better chance of everyone recovering from their hurt feelings over your choice. Make your choice based only on love, family, friendship, or job security and you will be the one that suffers more than anyone. In a perfect world, you should never be put in a position to have to choose between a family member and a pet, or other family members. You should never be put in a position to have to choose between right and keeping your job. The world we live in is far from perfect, so be smart about the choices you make. Try thinking about someone besides yourself when you start passing out ultimatums. Nothing good ever comes of them and someone is going to be hurt. Is that what you really want? If you force someone to make a choice and it hurts them, it will forever change how they truly feel about you. Remember, if you are the one issuing the ultimatum you may not like the outcome. Sometimes things truly are easier said than done.
Simply My Thoughts
Dean Butler
