Friday, February 26, 2010

Choice

Choice and freedom go together. We live in a great country where choice and freedom are considered basic rights. With choice comes accountability.

My daughter Anita, when she was just four years old was participating in a family meeting where I asked the question; "How long does it take to make a decision?", to which she answered: "A brain think". This is true, a decision only takes as long as it takes to decide.

Have you ever heard someone justifying a choice by saying, "It is my life, I can do what I want!", or "It is a free country".

April 20, 1999 I was at work at Martin Marietta just south of Denver. There was a buzz at work because there was something that transpired at the high school. Parents were concerned for their children. There were phone calls from students and family saying that there was a shooting at Columbine High. My home was just across Clement Park and Wadsworth Boulevard from the school. Two boys made a decision that they were going to enjoy killing people that had ostricised them. Commencing at about 11:30 the boys had placed bombs in the cafeteria set to explode during the first lunch hour. The boys carried an arsenal of weapons that included bombs and fire arms. 15 people died that day; more were injured and some were permanently disabled. I am glad that the boys were incompetent, but look at the damage they still inflicted.

The choice these boys made extended well beyond their own lives and their own families lives. The news media had views of Columbine High on the television while the young men were assailing the students and faculty in the school.

The choice of these boys came very close to home for me. I worked daily with two men that had children shot in the incident, one fatally, the other was paralyzed from the waist down. Several co-workers had children that were hidden in closets and other enclosed areas in the school during the incident.

Choices made by these boys affected the freedom of others and themselves and their families. I have made choices that have been good and I have made choices that have been bad. Our choices should be made with the understanding that our choices determine the road we take going forward.

There are a few things I am glad I have chosen to do. I served my church by spending two years in a foreign country at my expense. I went to school and earned a master's degree in engineering. I married a beautiful and wonderful woman that shares my values. I have seven children. I was free to have a family because of my choices. You too are free to choose.

I feel like Joshua of the old testament who said; "Choose ye this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord!

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you about choices. I have seen many who choose to serve the Lord with all their hearts and I have seen the great blessings that come from that choice. I have seen others who have chosen to do anything that they please and have seen the results of these choices in their lives. There is no joy in the end of bad choices. There are always consequences of both good and bad choices. Many years ago I chose to server the Lord and I have known great happiness because of that choice. Sometimes the choices of others our lives are affected, like the children at Columbine school. I pray that my choices will never hurt others.

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  2. I will never forget the day that those two boys made their choice to express themselves. We were glued to the television screens throughout our company. Many of still mourn the losses of that day.

    Although I have made choices that I am grateful that I made, I have also made some choices that I have regretted for the rest of my life. Choices seem to be small a small matter at times. At other times, our choices affect us forever afterward. I've learned from some of my poor choices, and now try to weigh the consequences of my choices more carefully.

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  3. Hi Jeanette,

    I got the info from the book "What Every Mother Must Teach Her Children" written by Clarence Sexton of Crown Collage. It is a very good book to teach your kids God's way.
    here is the website you can go http://bookshop.faithforthefamily.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=918
    I just took out what I think is important from the book and put it together.

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