The Choice Is Yours

About 8 months ago, Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, died after swimming with sting rays and getting stung. About 3 weeks ago in Mays Landing, a guy who had robbed 2 banks in the area was running from police, smashed his vehicle, got out of the car and fled on foot, was confronted by a police officer, was shot and killed. Yesterday in Mullica Township (Atlantic County), a 30 year old Hammonton man riding a dirt bike was being pursued by police, when he ran a red light and hit a vehicle, then was thrown from his bike and smashed into another car, being killed! What these 3 guys have in common is that they all made a choice, then paid with their lives by the consequences of these choices. All our choices come with consequences!

We have all made choices throughout our lives, some of those choices good and some not so good. We have all had to live with the consequences of the choices we have made. If you choose to swim with the rays or chase after crocodiles and pull them by the tail, you may become famous and have your own tv show, but you also risk getting hurt! If you choose to rob a bank, sure, you may get away with a ton of money and live happily ever after, but you also may get shot and killed. If you run away from the police, you may get lucky and return home safely, but you also may end up in jail or dead!

The more of life I experience, the more important it becomes to me that the choices we make are so very important. We hope to make good, smart choices that get us ahead in life. We all want to do things that make life easier and more enjoyable. But we're all human and making bad choices, out and out mistakes, happens! We can make all the excuses in the world we want to as to why things have happened, but the bottom line is we all make choices. I am not so naive to believe that it's easier for some people to make a good choice than others, and I also realize that depending on your situation in life it is easier to make some choices than others. I know it is easier for a 25 year old to leave a job he is dissatisfied with as opposed to a 45 year old with a family and kids depending on him/her to bring home the bacon. Speaking of which, I hear coworkers all the time moan and groan about their work. Quite honestly, I often come to the point where I just feel like saying, "Get a new job then!" Again, it's one's choice to be in a certain line of work, and if it makes ones life that miserable, then get out and do something else!

So we all make choices. And we've all made those horrid, life-altering choices that can really mess things up. So what? Where do we go from there? Well sooner or later, you have to stop the pity party and choose to alter things and make them right again. We all get knocked down in life, but what we do after getting knocked down is what's important. Do we lie on the ground, crying, "Whoa is me!" Or do we get up off our asses, dust ourselves off, and make another choice to get things right again?