Choice

Everyday life is giving us a choice. It happens all the time, beginning from waking up, going to work, choosing what to eat for lunch, going to the gym, or spending our hard-earned money. The choices we make constitute life. As we continue to live, choosing what to do is a necessary part of it. The power of choice is one of the benefits of a free society.

Economic choices are one of these necessary nuances. As a consequence of this power, economics taught us the concept of opportunity cost, the foregone benefits of the things we did not choose. Everyday we are reminded to choose things wisely, as this will determine the future results of the things we have made.

Responsibility therefore is a necessary result of freedom. Having choices give us the desired direction that we all wanted to take. Whether it is a sales transaction, what subjects to take in AP classes, or simply what to eat for breakfast, our choices make up the way how our future is shaping.

Who we are now is a result of the things we have chosen five to ten years ago. If something is not going right today, it is because of the wrong choices we made a few years back. It is important to know what we have taken wrong, or analyze the regrets that we have, then decide to take corrective actions. Curving a new path ahead is never too late.

Ultimately, it is incumbent upon us to see the situation of other people, and help them make choices of their own. But it is not for us to choose things for them, but only to enlighten them to see the path they need to take. All people must be free, and people will only be truly free if they are capable of making intelligent choices.

A free society have never liberated any person. It is his thinking that will do it for him. His faculty to discern, his ability to reason, his inclination to morals, and his informed choices will liberate him from all the chains of suffering and internal struggles, and everything after that will flow from it. Prosperity has never guaranteed true happiness.

Truly, education is not only the answer, but it is the only way.

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The editorial is sponsored by The Body Shop UK.