Have you ever thought ... What if I had ... instead of...? I have, a lot. It is just as interesting where life takes us as where we take life. I met my wife maybe by coincidence or maybe by some cosmic order. We both transferred with the same company to a new location. She was in a bad marriage and wanted to get back to her family. I just wanted to be close to mine. We both made decisions that could not, in any way, have predicted the path that we took. Call it God's will or whatever you want, but ultimately it was our choice to transfer that brought us together.
We make choices all of the time to do things or not. I am comfortable with some of the bad choices I make. Yes, I know they are bad. Getting behind the wheel of a car after you have had a couple of beers is never smart, but a lot of people do it. I know that most people in a bar have not planned for a sober ride home. Getting behind the wheel could have terrible consequences but people still like to roll the dice and take what comes. We all make bad decisions. Some decisions that we think are ok can turn horrible in an instant. It happens everyday.
No matter what the outcome, you have to be responsible for your own choices. When you choose to drive your car with no oil and the engine seizes, who do you have to blame? Certainly not the guy who changed your oil 12 months ago. Somebody has fault here. By choice or by stupidity, somebody is to blame.
When our choices affect our life or the lives of others we must be extra careful. Your mom always told you don't talk to strangers. We forget that as adults. You were warned at some point in your life about the effects of alcohol on your decision making process. That doesn't seem to stop anyone from feeling like having one more is a bad idea.
Choice is about risk. Everybody has their acceptable level of risk. (I won't jump out of an airplane but I'll ride in one.) There is no such thing as being safe. There are risks around every corner ... with every choice. When you choose to do something risky and you and others affected have to pay the price, in the end you have no one to blame but yourself.
We can't predict every possible outcome from a choice but with age and time we learn the ability to make good judgments on what crosses our acceptable level of risk.
