The decisions that we make in life make a material difference to how our life turns out, but not just for ourselves, but also for others, as well, because there are those decisions that will have consequences that impact others, directly or indirectly, for good or for bad. This thus indicates that we really do need to pay attention to the decisions that we make, in the sure knowledge that even if we don’t consider ourselves to be of that much importance, still our impact upon those that we know or congregate with can have consequences far beyond what we envision.
Indeed, we learn by the examples and exemplars that we come in contact with throughout our lives, and when we see people in authority who have made decisions that are immoral, unethical, and selfish, we will feel that impact upon us. This is why we need to recognize that ultimately, no matter who we are dealing with, that the decisions that we subsequently make are ours to own, which signifies that we are accountable for our own thoughts, actions, and deeds – thereby indicating that we need to be responsible in those very things.
Far too many of us don’t seem to recognize the responsibilities that we have been gifted or burdened with, and it is our duty to do right by those responsibilities, to the best of our ability. It is well to remember that this world is a proving ground, of which, each of us will be tested, again and again, providing us with the fair opportunity to prove our mettle, and therefore to show that we have not only learned our lessons well, but that we have appropriately applied those lessons for the betterment of the society that we are an active member of.
We are thus provided with temptations, not to destroy us or to misdirect us, but rather they are presented to us so as to determine whether we will or will not make the right subsequent decisions, and thereby to garner the best consequences, or whether we will make the wrong decisions, and suffer fairly the fate of having chosen unwisely. What we become and what we are is fairly determined by the collective decisions that we have made, for few can truthfully say that where they are in life has absolutely nothing or little to do with the decisions that they have previously made, but rather there is a correlation of decisions made, the consequences so of, which must be recognized.
In fact, the consequences of our decisions may not be fully known to us, because what we do and say impacts others in ways that we may or may not have anticipated. Nevertheless, we are responsible for all of our decisions, and to the degree that we are cognizant of the consequences of those decisions that are unsatisfactory to us, we need to make amends so as to right the ship, for in the end, the captain of the ship of our life is the one at the wheel.