Supporting a Choice

People talk a lot about making a choice. How difficult it is, how hard it is, how mind-racking it is, how nerve-wrecking it is, etc-etc. Some choices we make to better our situation, some we make to get out of a situation, while some we make nonchalantly, some we make for a higher purpose and so on.

Every choice has Yin and Yang side. It doesn't always mean that a choice has good and bad sides. It merely has advantages and disadvantages. If a choice offers more advantages, one simply opts for it. But sometimes, we simply make a choice not because its advantageous, but it is morally right.

For example, a desperate man stole medicines for his ailing wife. He is a righteous man, so he surrenders himself to the law. He made a choice of surrendering himself, because it is simply the right thing to do.

Another time, a student has to choose between two equally competent colleges. He looks at the advantages of each college offers to him and then decides. Here he makes a suitable choice.

A Lawyer takes up an illegal case of a wealthy client instead of a poor man's. Here, the choice is morally wrong, but individually suitable and profitable. And so we have different kinds of choices in choices to make.

Recently, I had to make a choice. To choose between a better college and a good college closer to home. Some would say, for a brilliant student, a better college is suitable and profitable. Some would say, a good college closer to home gives you time to spend with your family.

It was a tough call. Due to many reasons, my staying at home was necessary. And due to equally important reasons, my studying at a better college was also necessary. To make a choice was not only difficult but also emotionally stressful.

Finally, family prevailed over better studies and I decided to stay back at home and do the course in the college nearby. Those who knew my interest in studies were disappointed and rebuked me. Those who knew how much family mattered to me silently said it was the best decision for me. But, those who felt that they knew too much about me, said it was a bad choice and that I am too timid to go and study out.

Nevertheless, my college life started good, went on well, with its inadvertent ups and downs, new buddies, new twists and turns and so on. Though I regretted it sometimes, life gave me too few minutes to ponder over it and finally I was able to move over my regret.

After a few days into the college, life gave me few good stuff that made me say, "Thank God! For letting me choose to stay here", and smile at my luck. Those who rebuked me started envying my decision and those who called me timid saw how radiantly I am leading my life. Those who stood with me through tough times finally smiled along with me for my happiness and made me harness a great lifetime friendship.

A choice is always to be made, no matter how much you avoid it. "It is our choices, Harry, that shows what we truly are, far more than our abilities" says Professor Dumbledore in The Chamber of Secrets of Harry Potter Series written by JK Rowling. Which means, the choices we make always speak of our inner nature rather than what we look as to the outside world.

A nerd might be a completely different person inside when he/she choose to go to the prom and set the disco floor on fire with their dance. An ugly looking person might show his/her mesmerizing inner beauty to the world by making a choice. A stutterer might choose to express his vocabulary in the form of a written poem or a novel that would make him world famous.

It’s not always a chance that makes or breaks a life. But it is always a choice, which does it. And to support that choice you make, you have to have faith in yourself.