Choices and Consequences

Greetings,

Another dichotomous relationship that people tend to focus on one side of the relationship and forget the other; I have previously discussed rights and responsibilities (https://historicalsocialpolitical.blogspot.com/2018/08/rights-and-responsibilities.html). It seems to be a modern trend that people want to focus on all of the things that they have the right to do but forget about the consequences of these actions. This, for me, is a real problem.

I can choose to eat junk food all of the time, but I must accept that if I do not exercise on a regular basis and possibly even more that I will put on weight. I can choose to sit around and do nothing with myself, and sit around and watch television, but I must accept that I will achieve nothing as a consequence of this choice. I can choose to not take the medications which I am on, but must accept that the consequence of this action is that my health is going to suffer as a result of this decision. I can choose to neglect my hygiene but the consequence is that my health will suffer and it is likely that people will not want to be around me particularly much.

In each one of these situations there is a choice and a consequence. In every situation where there is a choice to be made there is also a consequence which will result from that choice. The most interesting thing is that we make choices all of the time, and not making a choice also has consequences as well. The most important thing is that the consequences are something which cannot be avoided because they are inconvenient, or because they are something which we did not plan for, or because we do not like them. They do exist and this is the way it is.

A person may choose to wear a piece of clothing because they like the cut of it but it is outlandish and makes them stick out. The consequence of this is that people are going to look in their direction. A person may decide to speed in their motor vehicle. The consequences of this could be that they will be caught by the police, or that they may be involved in a collision. A person may choose to point out that there are certain things wrong with society. The consequence of this could be that people could decide to join them, or the people could think that they are a trouble-maker, or elements of the government may decide to take a closer look at them. Each one of the choices a person makes has consequences, some of them are not planned for.

What also needs to be known about consequences is that there are those consequences that we plan for and there are those which we do not plan for. The latter are those which are usually a result of a flow-on effect of choices made, or a result of linked elements which were not taken into account. In any case these consequences must also be accepted, even if they were not planned for. In any case the choices made have consequences and people need to accept this.

Cheers,

Henry.