Choices

In an extremely boring article for history class I had to read recently, the author wrote that: "Every human being has a choice how to behave". This got me thinking: is this really true? Sure, we do have a choice in things, but our choices are greatly influenced by outside forces so does this even make the decision ours in the end?

In the case of the history reading, it was about Nazi Germany and the author is saying that everyone at the time had a choice of what to do and that people could have resisted the Third Reich because of their ability to make their own decisions. In that period of time, if your choice didn't reflect the commonly accepted views of society, you were persecuted. In a time where the government would and could easily take you away with nobody knowing where you went, it would be frightening to go against them. With the possible consequences in mind, people knew what they could and couldn't do. So if they made the choice to go along with the regime instead of speaking out against it, is it really in the end their decision with so many outside factors affecting the choice? Some people did make the choice to go against the Nazis, but those resistance leaders ended up dead; other people did not want to do what the others had already tried and therefore their decisions were affected.

In today's society this is also true, but not to the extremity as during the rule of the Nazis. When you stand out and make a choice that is uncommon, you are thought of to be brave, but can't this also be plain stupidity? When people know something is hopeless, they still try which is admirable but at the same time it's not smart. People that make choices against the government or any body of people that have some sort of power don't typically get away with it. Whenever we have to make hard choices what do we do? We find out the opinions of others and what they think you should do. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of it being your choice? The idea of kids not having to make their own choices until a certain age is somewhat good because decisions come from experience which you don't have much of as a child, but it can also be bad. By not letting people make the bad decisions earlier in life they can make them later on when the decision is more important.

We always have to take responsibility for the choices we make, because although people can plant ideas in your head as to what you should do, it's still your decision in the end. Nobody can completely force you to do something, unless you are put in a situation where there is no other option and even then can that be considered a choice? I definitely think it is important to get input from people that you trust would give you good advice, but that doesn't mean their opinion should be the decisive factor in a choice. Ultimately you will have to take responsibility, and you can't just say "my friend said I should choose that so I did" because you carried out the making of the decision itself.

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.”