Choice 201

After my last post, everyone who commented was kind enough and quick to say that I didn't need to qualify what I was saying, that I didn't need to explain that I was talking about choice v. that stuff that destiny serves up. Everyone was generous and knew what I meant, and to all of them I say "thank you."

But as often happens with blogging, I hadn't really been thorough in either my original post or my comment. And, as some days have passed, I've realized why it bothered me so much not to have been more specific the first time around.

The distinction between what luck or destiny serve up and what we choose is critical and central to the discussion, precisely because choice, by definition, is the opposite of that which is out of our hands. You choose to take or deny a job. You don't choose cancer. And those of us who have lots of choice in life have been given a very fortunate hand, indeed. And for all that choice, all that flexibility, all that opportunity to say "yes" to this or "no" to that, we ought to be damn (double-damn) grateful. Not whiny. Not full of regret. Not negative about our lives and why they aren't like so-and-so's "greener" life on the other side of the fence. We ought to be celebrating every aspect of those choices, cognizant of the fact that we were lucky to be able to make them in the first place.

In other words, every choice we make is a celebration of the freedom to choose. And the ripple-effects of those choices are a reminder. -Charlotte