Do You Own Your Choices?

Published: April 16, 2006

The other day I asked my daughter if she had practiced her recorder. Her response "I didn't have enough time."

Why did she say that? I went into philosophical mommy mode. The conversation went like this:

Me: Baby girl, on any given day, does everyone in the world have a house?
Her: No.

Me: On any given day, does everyone have a dog?
Her: No.

Me: On any given day, does everyone have two legs that work?
Her: No.

Me: What is one thing that everyone in the world has in common on any given day?
Her: Hmmmmm...

Me: Give up?
Her: Yep

Me: We all have 24 hours. (She rolled her eyes because she knew she was in for one of my philosophical ramblings about her life) What we choose to do with them is up to us, but we all have the same amount of time. Then I explained that she chose to turn on the TV instead of practicing the recorder

Afterward, I exercised my parental choice. I made her shut off the TV, practice the recorder and go to bed.

We all are fortunate enough to have choices. To whom much is given, much is expected. Because we have the ability to make choices, we also have to be wise enough to own up to the choices we make. When we make poor choices, we tend to paint ourselves as victims and blame it on not having enough hours in the day or some other erroneous reason. Before we turn into victims, we need to look at the choices we've made and how those choices contributed to our current state of affairs.

Our choices have made us fat or fit, drunk or sober, rich or not so rich. Once we become aware of just how our decisions affect our lives, we might begin to make better choices; one choice at a time. Just like eating that old elephant. One bite at a time (but first you've got to be aware that the elephant has to be eaten).

That's my two cents and I'm sticking with it.

About the Author: I am Felicia A. Williams, a wife, mom, grandma, writer and eternal student.

Last Modified: 21 May 2021