Choices.

Everyone makes them every day, and they all have varying consequences depending on the variables of the choices to be made. They permeate our lives from the mundane to the most extreme of decisions, from a healthy salad for lunch or that tasty beef sandwich with everything and extra mayo.

The hard part is that some of the worst choices a person ever makes might not seem like a bad proposition at the time. How many hearts were broken at the hands of the best person the other party has ever known, how many times has a ‘treat’ every now and then turned into a habit?

In the worst case scenarios, small choices seemed so trivial at the time. No one wants to be addicted to tobacco or ever run south of the law but these things, of course, do occur when making other, seemingly smaller choices like trying to impress your friends in high school or getting into the bad habit of doing a rolling stop at stop signs.

Forward-thinking eliminates most of the danger that lies in the examples given above, but not all to be sure. The man or woman who found out their ‘soul-mate’ was a wolf in sheep’s clothing probably only saw happiness ahead, not dark clouds and cold rain filled days.

Various kinds of mental blindness might be the suspect in these cases, besides, no one is perfect after all, especially when it comes to major shifts, not always for the better, in our life’s progression.

So what’s the point you say? Why has this been literally the first half of this months column?

Well, I was thinking, always a dangerous occurrence, trust me on that one.

Lately, in the past half year, I have made some really horrible choices, and they kinda follow you around like a ghost, bad choices like those. More recently, something that should be a simple thing, a small occurrence, minuscule in its importance, occurred and it has gotten into the conga line behind the ghosts, merrily dancing along in a circle.

As it mirrors the starting point of the former horrible choices in some ways, the small, unimportant thing should not bother me as much, but it does…and you know what?

It really does not matter.

Starving kids matter, preventing wars matter, getting more of the countries youth involved in political causes they believe in matter, curing diseases matter…the list could be endless, as long as it is right and kind.

All of the choices laid out in print above are just the way of life and its currents. You have some control, as you can direct your boat in one direction or another, become an expert at commanding your boat, but no matter how seaworthy the craft and how skilled the captain there will always be waves.

As said, we can choose which way to steer, but we can never quite always equate for the waters themselves….and that’s all right.