Just Because You Have a Choice, It Does Not Mean That Any of Them Has to Be Right

• 05 Jan 2023

May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears.

Nelson Mandela

A choice is the act of selecting something from a range of possibilities or is one of your options. Choice may also mean that something has been carefully chosen. Existence of choices does not mean that all choices are legally right or socially acceptable. Existence of choices does not assure your righteousness. If something has been asked to do it does not mean that it is right. If something was done according to the wishes of others, then it cannot be claimed that you are not guilty because someone else has asked to do so. Concerns related to right or wrong are independent of virtue or wishes. Something is absolute in this world and no negotiation is possible regarding such kinds of things. Moving from one choice to other choices is your discretion but its righteousness or wrongness sometimes depends on your act. It means the choice is neutral. You have to prove that the choice you made is right. In some other circumstances the right or wrong is predetermined i.e., it is absolute, and you cannot negotiate it. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ provides a cohesive response to the claims of righteousness and wrong. The fundamental idea that promotes harmony and joy is generally considered as the path of righteousness.

Civil Servants have fundamental characteristics such as patriotism, neutrality, rationality, hard work, Honesty, Transparency & Integrity etc. A civil servant must have to make decisions according to preexisting circumstances to solve the issues of the people without fear. The ability to make appropriate choices is critical for survival. In order to choose the optimum course of action, successful decision-making involves the integration of sensory information, motivational states, and probable consequences. A civil servant has to make decisions not just for sake, but he has to prove that his decision is right because a wrong decision can destroy several lives and their future. A person with such a huge responsibility cannot rely on circumstances for decision making. He cannot just watch the right time to make an appropriate decision. He has to make a decision and choose the steps to implement his decision irrespective of circumstantial constrains. Due to fundamental characteristics of fearlessness the Civil Services in India is considered as the “Steel Frame of India''. A civil servant has to make the best choices out of several choices fearlessly. After taking decisions he has to strive hard to prove it right and to implement it for the welfare of society. The bureaucratic process is prone to criticism and is equated with duplication, arbitrary decision-making, and inefficiency. The underlying causes may be the inefficiency of the entire system, but responsibility lies on the civil servant or on bureaucrats. Accountability always comes to the head who takes the decision. Civil servants cannot claim that he is not guilty of the adversity which is the outcome of his decisions. The decision making or making choices are physiological aspects of life which are highly influenced by the personal thought process and existing circumstances and conscience of the individual. Possessing the power to choose is not necessarily a good thing always. When we must choose between two courses of action, we typically also assume some of the responsibility for our decisions.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

Napoleon Bonaparte

If we talk about world history in the late 18th century, France was a country in turmoil. This turmoil and the resulting power vacuum presented an opportunity to Napoleon, who by all accounts, was a shrewd opportunist in his quest for power. He was keenly aware of the opportunity of how being on the winning side would benefit him in his quest for power. Napoleon carefully analyzed possible scenarios to develop the best strategy to further his goals. In successfully dispersing the insurrection, Napoleon became a hero to everyday French citizens looking for change and tired of the bloodshed. The Battle of the Nile in August 1798 is considered to be Napoleon’s first big mistake. He “quit learning from the past in order to direct the future” and started making impulsive and emotion-based decisions.

The life of an individual either personal or professional, is full of right and wrong decisions. If a person makes the right decision he enjoys and if the decision goes wrong, then he has to face adversities. The crux of life is just to make decisions. Making decisions or choices should be based on awareness, knowledge and conscience. Decisions should not be impulsive, and emotion based.

A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.

M.K.Gandhi.

An individual's thought process shapes his or her personality. The guiding force that determines an individual's future course of action is his own thinking. The future of an individual is determined by their current course of activity. Everything is based on the decisions or choices that a person makes. Thoughts may be constructive or destructive, good and bad; what we choose to think about shapes who we are. Mahatma Gandhi describes how his upbringing, experiences, and unwavering principles influenced his way of thinking in his book "My Experiments with Truth." This finally facilitates decision-making. Mahatma Gandhi also says that a person's decisions and behaviors are both strongly impacted by their cognitive processes.

We the human beings are on the earth because we have chosen life. Life is an absolute thing in itself so we cannot say anything about whether life is right or wrong. Utility of choices may be right or wrong, but it again depends on our choices which usually we make in life for the very survival of the life. Life gives us choices at every turn because we choose it to do so. Ultimately life choses death.

“The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our separate ways, I to die, and you to live. Which of these two is better only God knows.”

Socrates