THE THING TO DO

Everyday we make choices, what time to get out of bed, a choice on what to wear, what to eat...... Simple everyday choices.


Then there are those choices we don't make as often, what electives to take in school, who to vote for in an election, where to have the next vacation......


Another class of choices include who to allow into our circle of friends, who to marry, our mentors.....

Mostly conscious choices...... some you reach only after weeks and months of debate, of weighing the pros and cons. Sometimes independently, sometimes as a group or unit.


The other day I was in a bus and I had paid my fare waiting for my balance. On receiving my balance I called the conductor's attention back because I felt he had given me 20naira extra on my balance, it was then I realised that I was wrong, that was the exact balance.


The person sitting next to me said "so if it was his 20 naira, that's how you would have given him truly. Do you think if it was yours he would be in such a hurry to return it to you?" I just smiled and said nothing(I hate having conversations with strange guys in the bus)


I did consider later what the guy said, that the conductor wouldn't have been so quick to return the extra but that wasn't my concern. Not because I was the most honest of people, it was merely the right thing to do.



We sometimes make wrong choices because we allow other people's possible or perceived choices, if faced with the same scenario, to affect ours. We think, if it was the other way around, what would he have done, what would she have said.......


I once heard a story of a soldier who on making it past enemy lines, realised his friend was still trapped behind enemy lines. He went back alone in search of his friend and both made it out alive. Barely. His friend confessed to him years later that if positions were reversed, he wouldn't have returned for him. The soldier replied that he knew. His friend was shocked and asked why he did it anyway, he said it was because he was confident that he would be able to make it back alive even if he returned. To return for him therefore was not based upon what would have happened if he had been the one trapped but on his ability to make it back in one piece!


Whoa! The soldier made a choice to save his friend knowing his friend would not have done the same.The day after I heard the story, I was heading to my house when I saw my neighbour's recently washed clothes on the floor, I honestly did not want to pick them up because I knew he would have merely walked on by, then I flashed back to the story and asked myself what the right thing was? It was to pick up his clothes and put them back on the line, so that's what I did. I walked back and did the right thing (even though I was really annoyed)

Choices should never be about what the other person would have done, it should be about the right thing to do.