OUR CHOICES DEFINE WHAT WE ARE

This is my philosophy

So, suddenly I'm a philosopher?

Philosopher: (somebody who seeks to understand and explain the principles of existence and reality: a thinker who deeply and seriously considers human affairs and life in general: somebody who calmly and rationally reacts to events, especially adversity).

Loosely applying these definitions, I could qualify as somewhat of a philosopher. So could most writers, because, what most of us do is write about human affairs and life in general. I cannot say we all do it calmly though. I, for one, tend to get fired-up at times and spin off into La La Land. I am but the rough slab of bark stripped from a saw log. I lack the finesse required to smooth out boards for making fine furniture etc. I have been seeking all my life, and I sometimes fail to understand some people and their ways. See there, none of what I just wrote has anything to do with what I want to say.

My statement

We are the product of our choices in life. Now, is that not a good philosophical statement? Of course, it is not mine. I stole it from someone else. I pondered it for a long time and firmly believe it. What I cannot believe or understand is, people freely make choices, that send them down their path of life, but fail to take responsibility for them My main beef is, when they make a wrong turn, they inevitably want to blame someone else for their folly.

We all face many choices each day from the time we wake up until we flop on our bed for another session of dreamtime. If we happen to over sleep or fail to hear our alarm go off and show up late at work, why do we blame our mean old boss for singling us out and firing us? We simply fail to fess up to our ill begotten choices.

This putting the blame on someone else is something we learn in early childhood. We are quick to point the finger-of-blame at someone or something else, e.g., our sibling or our favorite toy. I believe it is the unusual parent, who teaches their child to take responsibility for his/her bad choices.

Some personal examples

One of my earliest remembrances is when I was around five. My mother and sister had planned a trip to the grocery store and I was excited because Mum said I could go with them. I guess I grew impatient waiting, so I wandered off into the neighborhood, something I recall doing quite often. I returned to find them gone. I probably threw a fit, cried, jumped up and down, and beat my head against the wall. I know I was very disappointed. When they came home, I sobbed and demanded to know. "Why didn't you take me?"

"Because you weren't here when we left, I thought you didn't want to go," Mum said. Now I ponder, was my mother giving me a lesson on responsibility or was she just being mean?

Most of our choices are just that, i.e., they are our choices freely made. No one stands beside us wielding a whip and forcing us to make a choice. Well, maybe in some cases some of us feel as though there is. Mostly, we are the ones making the choices. Right or wrong, it is up to us. What we choose will eventually determine what or where we end up at the end of the day, week, month, year, or life. We alone, make the choice, sometimes even when made against a warning.

At about that same time, Mum warned me about standing too close to a stray dog she had just thrown some scraps. As I stood by watching the peaceful looking stray, I decided to help it with its meal. When I reached down to pick up a piece to feet it, the stray nailed me. I still carry a scar on my wrist to remind me of my ill begotten choice. Some choices have immediate results. Others take a lifetime for us to realize our folly. I, for one, have stacked up a long list of regrets. I hate regrets. However, good bad or indifferent, I accept full responsibility. They have carried me down a long and weary road of which I hope is nearing the end.

Having our cake and eating it too?

These days, whatever that means, we can choose to have a healthy breakfast at home, or we can choose to stop at one of the dozens of fast food joints strategically placed along our route to work. You know the ones that advertize to our children promising them fun and frolic if they convince their parents they will be good if only they have one of those slop burghers and half-gallon liquid flavored drinks laced with highly refined poison, i.e., SUGAR, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is so easy on us busy parents. What harm is a little fat and sugar? We make the choice.

The truth

We gladly select this form of feeding mainly to keep their yapping, whining mouths shut. It is an easier and cheaper way for busy parents to feed their little brats as well as themselves. These fast food chains have convinced us that their fatty slop-burgers laced with GM, (genetically modified) meat are healthy meals. Besides a good meal, our little butter balls get a play toy, as well as a place to play to work off all that fat they just ingested. This play period comes nowhere close to working off the fat-laced double burger, large fries, and jumbo drink. Our plump kid would have to work out for a week to rid his chunky body of half the calories in that meal. We made the choice.

The consequences

Later, WE complain about the high cost of medical care. What made our children's teeth so rotted? How did our little butter balls end up with diabetes? It must be those damn fast food slop houses. Let us sue the rascals. They have deep pockets. They need to pay.

We deny it was our choice to feed on this garbage and expose it to our sweet vulnerable babies. We demand compensation. You worldwide food chains fooled us and forced us to make a wrong choice. Pay up. You caused me to make the wrong choice.

When will we ever learn?

It is quite evident we have not learned yet. These slop joints continue to thrive and they continue to lure us into their dens of death. Like zombies, we line up to feed on their tainted meat we have become addicted to. They will continue as long as we choose to patronize their establishments, and as long as we allow them to continue buying off our representatives in Washington. We made the choice. Should we suffer the consequences?

Conclusions

Do we have the right to complain, blame it on someone or something else? Should we sue the food chains because we made the decision to eat their garbage instead of a wholesome meal at home? Some have. People will not fess up to their ill begotten choices. We still have not learned how to stop pointing our guilt-ridden fingers.

We have only ourselves to blame. Our early choices in life made us into what we have become. Without realizing it, I learned this early in life. Maybe that is because I have always been a loner. Loners learn early on how to make choices that mainly benefit themselves. Well now, you say that is selfishness. Maybe so, however, I look upon it, in many cases, as self-preservation. That rather changes the picture, does it not?

However, you put it, it is our choice, right wrong, or indifferent, we freely made the choice. We may have based it on wrongful information or thinking, or jumped to conclusions, they were decisions we freely made. This having a choice is good. Now if only we would accept our responsibility and take our whipping without screaming, "The devil made me do it."

Decades later, we cannot lay the blame on someone else. We need to suck it in and face the truth, or find a hole and crawl into it. I found my hole, but I seldom feel comfortable there. I have made my bed, now I flounder in it, for the end soon cometh. Thanks and have a pleasant day.

Ray