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Friday, May 1, 2020

What would you do differently if you knew the cost of your decision today?

Recently, I have seen quite a number of people make decisions based on current prevailing situations. Not necessarily decisions that they are proud of, but choices made because they assumed that was the best for them in that situation and at that time.

For instance, a recently widowed young mother of 2 girls who had no job and no means of livelihood to survive on after her husband's demise. She sought for a job with her friends and tried all she knew. She was willing to become a commercial sex worker just to feed her little girls. She found a rich man who could have helped her out, but the man wanted her oldest daughter instead. She fought with the idea only for a few minutes, and sent her daughter into the dark cold tunnel of prostitution. She was only 14 years old when she was pushed to become a whore to feed her family.

Or is it the case of the woman who maltreated her daughter because she was the product of a gang rape? She never got to know who the real father was and took out her vexation on the poor innocent child!

A young girl tried very hard to loose her job (she needed her boss to fire her) so she could get benefits from the company which would help her establish her business. She tried so hard and prayed so much to get fired. Her boss got to find out why she kept frustrating him and trying to run down the company so he promised her that despite her misdemeanour, he wouldn't fire her. She finally got kicked by her conscience and tendered her resignation on her own. Of course she didn't get the severance package. I thought long and hard about it. If she knew her effort would be futile, would she have been so mischievous? Would she have continued to work indefinitely just for that juicy package?

An orphaned gigolo lost his only sister and best friend because his lover's husband found out about his wife's illicit affair. He became a gigolo not because he wanted to, but because he thought it was the only way out of poverty. He wanted a new life for his sister and couldn't bear to see her lack anything. As she breathe her last in his arms, his mind flashed back to the day he made up his mind to become a gigolo. Had he known it would end this way, what would he have done different? 

I saw a movie yesterday that prompted this post. So a woman raised her daughter as a single mom. They were both very happy and seemingly inseparable, regardless of their very average standard of living (The mum had a restaurant and the girl was a clerk at a supermarket). Till the daughter found out that her father (oh yes, she had a father) who had just passed on was a billionaire and had made her CEO of his company (and group of subsidiaries). The daughter was beyond mad at her mom and refused to talk to her for over a month. Her grouse? Why would her mum deny her of spending at lease 11 years with her father? What right did she have to take away her ability to choose who she wanted to be with. Her mum obviously had her reasons for lying to her for her whole life but was her reason really tenable? Should she have chosen for her? Would she have made the same decision today if she knew the outcome of her decision over 10 years ago?

This begs the question- If you know today the answer to a question asked over a decade ago, would your answer still be the same? Would you make the same choice? Would you do that thing? Or would you change your decision and chart another path?
If you knew today that what you had planned for your life over 7 years ago would lead you to where you are today, would you still go on that journey? Would you do something differently?

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