Feature: The decision conundrum

I am very sure that each and every one of us would have thought of the question ‘What would I do if I got a chance to change one single decision of my life?’. There is no right answer here, obviously. Personally, I’d not take the offer at all for the very reason that our planet is a gigantic playground to the biggest game of dominoes ever played. Some of you might choose to not take up engineering, perhaps most of you would, but some would favour more selfless options, say, taking better care of your parents whilst they were sick or spending more time with your grandparents. Though this discussion seems more Sci-Fi, I assure you pondering about this show you more about your personality traits than any other useless psychometric test you write.

I came across a particular Quora answer where a boy who lost his dad at a very early age to Asthma (and later his mom), ended up becoming a software engineer in a company in sub-urban Mumbai despite numerous struggles for money, shelter and food. Posing the aforementioned question to him, would he take it? Maybe. Would he have taken it ten years back when he had his sister’s marriage, father’s illness and his own messed up life to balance? I’d say yes, and in his defence, any of us would have done that. The important thing to realize here is that if he had chosen to take the offer, he might not be where he is right now; maybe, nothing would have changed and he could be where he is right now and have whatever he desired changed. Essentially, it is a gamble and the burning question is ‘Are you willing to make it?’.

Let us reminisce for a moment about our own choices as kids. We played cricket and football; we dug up grass and hid stuff there so that our moms would not find out; we cried and annoyed everyone in the whole locality to get our way. We did things merely because of curiosity and excitement. Nothing really stopped us and we did not stop to think either. We JUST did it. Things don’t have to be so different now. Obviously, we can’t cry every time we don’t get what we want. My point being, you keep doing something or the other during the day to keep yourself engaged—reading through celebrity gossip, watching videos or maybe playing a sport. Yet, people still complain that they have not found what they want to do in life and are in pursuit of their sacred passion which will provide them with infinite happiness and a perfect life.

They cannot be more wrong. In the game of dominoes, the chips don’t always fall off immediately one after the other and they certainly don’t stay idle forever. The unpredictability associated with the movement of the chips is what is exciting. If one knew how and when anything and everything was going to happen, one’s life would be boring and miserable. I don’t want to preach the clichéd ‘Life is a mystery’, ‘Do what you love, love what you do’ because I’m certain Tumblr would provide adequate inspirational quotes to fill your void of lack of self-esteem but resetting the game each time the chip doesn’t fall like you wanted it to only results in a mundane and mechanical life. As Frank Zappa said “If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your stuff, then you deserve it.”

– Adityan Suresh