Decisions and Consequences
Our decisions have consequences, and the small actions we make out of habit have widespread effects on the course of our future. Think about drink driving ads for a minute. For all of the shocking events and grim images they show, the heart of the matter comes down to a quick and quiet process of thought after a few drinks.
Of course, it is easy to forget the importance of the little things we
do. We make hundreds, even thousands of choices in each busy day - and
simply don't have the time to evaluate them all in great detail. Even
if we did, we probably wouldn't relish the idea of spending hours
trying to decide the outcomes and moral implications of something as
simple as whether or not to have the avocado.
There seems to be
a tension, then. On one hand we know that the decisions we make may
result in scenarios we want to avoid. On the other, we often have to
make those same decisions quickly in order to cope in our busy lives at
work and study. All we can do is to make the best choices with whatever
time and information we have available. That might be very simplistic,
but that's all that we can expect from ourselves and other people.
The strange thing is that even when the only thing we need to do is
try and make as good decisions as we are able - we don't. We know that
we shouldn't smoke, drive drunk, eat too much junk food, buy what we
can't actually afford... and more. We hear warning after warning from
TV, the advice of our friends and from what we hear of the experience
of others... but individually and as New Zealanders a huge number of us
still go right ahead and do the very same things we are warned not to.
It's a fairly bad idea to get to this point of the argument and then
start pointing fingers at people for making the wrong decision. If we
stop and think about our own lives we should soon come to the
conclusion that all of us eventually do something stupid we've been
told over and over again not to do. That's vaguely depressing.
Especially when it seems to be one of those rare truths that transcend
time and culture.
On a brighter note; just as one dumb, snap
decision can have dire consequences for the lives of both ourselves and
those around us, we can sometimes blunder our way into doing something
remarkable. At the Tamahere fire last April people straight off the
street put themselves in danger in order to rescue the fire-fighters
injured in the blaze. They might not have been aware of all the dangers
and might have lost their lives should things have turned out
differently - and yet I think they made the right decision.
