Saturday, June 23, 2012

the power of choice

How many times have you heard someone say " I had no choice"? Sadly, too often. One of the most important freedoms we enjoy is the freedom to "choose" for ourselves. Yet sometimes we are put in situations that seem to have limited options. In the movie "Sophie's choice" Meryl Streap's character was given the horrible choice of which child to keep with her ( and therefore save) and which child to let go. Fortunately most of us are never put in that position. In our modern world, there are so many new options- from supermarkets, movies. restaurants, books, online -the list is endless - that we are often overwhelmed into not making a decision. With so many good products and services available today, the fear now is in making the "wrong" vs "right" or "best" choice. This leads to indecision, doubt and procrastination. And the advertiser take advantage of this by creating artificial differences between themselves and their competitors. Is their really that big of a difference between Pepsi and Coke?  Of course not, they both are just carbonated water with sugar and syrup,

So ironically sometimes too many choices IS no choice.

Except - we are capable and responsible individuals. How we see the world and filter through the blitz of media and social pressures is dependent on the amount of thought and care we take in our daily lives. Our capitalistic system ( which has been a blessing in so many ways- creating a higher standard of living for more people than at any other time in history) demands competition from those who wish to be in the marketplace. In the past most captains of industry had a sense of responsibility for the greater good of their communities. But as corporations have grown bigger and multinational, that sense of responsibility to the common man has dwindled.

So OUR responsibility has grown.
It is up to each of us to hold them accountable with OUR CHOICES. 
The new global economy has created so many options for us.

Choose wisely.