Choice

One does not know whether the word ‘Choice’ is a camouflage in our daily life.

I think it’s a camouflage.

When I hear the word choice the first thing that comes in my mind is a saying *All that glitters is not gold*

“All that glisters is not gold;
Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold.
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgement old
Your answer had not been inscroll'd
Fare you well, your suit is cold.”
(Act II - Scene VII - Prince of Morocco, William Shakespeare’s)

According to Oxford dictionary choice means *act of choosing*, but do we actually make choices in our life. Isn’t everything in our life pre-determined…from the minute we were conceived till the day we die? We don’t have a choice on what date, month or where we are born, we don’t have a choice about what we eat when we are 6 months old, we don’t have a choice on which pre-school we want to go to, we don’t have a say in which school we want to join in.

Now many people will not agree with this. I know that as we grow up we will have choices (but are they really choices??? One is a good way which is a long hard trip and the other is a shortcut which might be smooth but there is no contentment) so we actually don’t have a choice though it might seem like we have two options.

After schooling as we become adults and are entering colleges, we have our own thinking process and freedom of speech so can call all the shots as to which course we want to join in but over here too we don’t really have a choice. {We may be interested in studying literature, history, math and chemistry…but we are forced to follow the diktats of our Education Dept. which gives us a list of predetermined courses…which are the only one’s conducted in our Universities….so not much choice there also}. We might take up science option so that we can be an Engineer which will earn us our daily bread and butter after five years ( you need to start thinking after 10th standard only what you want to be in life because you have to go through millions of exams, different courses, training, specialization etc…the list is never ending) though what we are really interested in is taking writing as our career but which rather becomes the *other* women in our life and takes in second priority though we might be really passionate and good at what we do but we need to be in this rat race of earning one million per month as our salary and need to show to the world that I am a very powerful man/women. And when we are feeling happy about ourselves that we have made the choice by ourselves…how many of us can honestly say that their choice was not influenced by what the society considers to be a respectable career option and what your family and peers expect from you…So not much of a choice if you ask me since so many factions have to appeased while making one the decision.

Marriage and Kids also do not offer choice. People might argue that no we have a choice of saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to a guy or a girl. But I say it has already been decided before you make your decision.

How we die also is already planned. We can’t choose in what manner we want to die. It’s already decided. It can be through infections, accident, heart attack or you might just live to see your 100th birthday. It is not in our hands or let us say we have no say on how we die. Even suicides according to me are pre-determined action and are not out of choice.

I would say we *compromise* in our life. Very few people actually make *choices* in life and they do make decisions whether the decision is approved by ones parents, wife, kids, society, colleagues, boss, world or the society one lives in. They make choices for themselves because they know it is once in a lifetime you get this opportunity to live for yourself and not for others. You live once and you die once in a lifetime is the motto of people who makes choices.

It takes every single cell in our body to make 'Choice' and most importantly to live every single second with our ‘Choice’ without any regrets.

*Here I would like to thank Mals who sprinkled in all the right spices to make this a perfecto appetizer*

Cheers!!!