Sunday, September 26, 2010

Choices

Choices are the darnedest thing. When you have none, you want one; when you have one, you want some; and when you have some, you just want none! Life is indeed, an eventual outcome of the choices that we make. Maybe, it is an outcome of the choices that we don't make. In fact, its the unchosen path that haunts us more. The anguish, pain felt by walking down the imaginary 'What if only' road can be heart-wrenching. Maybe, unbearable for some.

It seems to me that eventually, the choice is between the 'head' and the 'heart'. Yeah, you may have a million choices, but they all boil down to those that your head wants to take, one that is logical, rational. And the other that your heart wants you to take, one that resonates with you at an emotional level. Should I do this or not? Should I take this step or not? Should I head down road x or z? Every choice is eventually a showdown between the head and the heart. And this showdown leads to dilemma, confusion, indecision, frustration, anger. I remember the cartoons, where they show an angel and devil on the shoulders of a character, and they both fight it out. The showdown is akin to those fights.

Maybe, God wanted it to be this way. He put all senses right between the head and the heart. Maybe to give unbiased inputs to both. So whenever there is a 'case' to be considered, the two lawyers battle it out with their arguments. While the heart has emotions, feelings in its arsenal, the head has logic and rationale in its quiver. The dreaded 'Guilt' and 'regret' arguments are used by both. Then, theres is the 'Past history' thing. The head throws the heart's past record in the face and says, "Your honor, these are the previous cases of forked roads, when the 'heart' way was chosen. And unfortunately, my esteemed friend here has always misled the court on a path to failure".

Very rarely do I find that the head and heart agreeing on anything.Man! it would have made things so much simpler. Maybe the head and the heart can never reconcile on any matter, maybe theres no common ground, maybe thats the way things are supposed to be. Who knows, God must be bringing popcorn and coke to watch the daily soap opera, with us mortals tearing ourselves apart at the crossroads. Maybe like Neo, we have already made the choice and are here just to see why we made them. Probably the thunder and lightening are God's 'LOLs' and 'ROTFLs'. (Dear God, it ain't funny anymore)

Whatever it is, the dichotomy that choices bring is something that we will never be able to escape. Lesson learnt: God may not be rolling dices, but maybe you should.