We're Always at Choice

Choice is our greatest human freedom. We are at a moment of choice almost every minute of every day. I can't tell you how many choice I was presented with just today. I'm in day two of the three day workshop I train. It's been absolutely one of the best classes I've facilitated. I even talked about choice today in our opening reflections with the class.

We are faced with choice everyday starting with what time am I going to get out of bed? What am I going to have for breakfast? Which shampoo in my shower am I going to use today? How long am I going to brush my teeth today? Am I going to floss or use my water pick or maybe neither? What color shirt and pants am I going to wear today? Do I need to iron? What time am I going to leave the house to get me to the workshop on time? These are just the choices I make before I even leave my house in the morning. That's only eight but if I dug deeper I could easily double that number.

Every choice we make has a consequence. The consequences of our choice are either a positive one or a negative one, but they always have a consequence. I noticed today I had the choice to speak or not to speak during my facilitation of the class. Sometimes I chose to not say anything and let the learning come from the participants. It was amazing recognizing that choice. I was able to achieve the results I was looking for by not even saying a word.

I also realized how easily we give up our power of choice to others. We let other people make the choices for us. We sometimes are acted upon instead of acting for ourselves.

I shared with the class this morning a preview I saw on CNN for this Saturday and Sunday evenings called "Lifting the Veil" a special showing the abuse of Arab women in Afghanistan. They showed horrible video of them being beaten by just a few men. Driving to work this morning those images were playing through my head. I wondered why the women would just take the abuse? Why they wouldn't fight back? Why they just stood there and watched another woman being beaten in the back by a club? Why the woman would just stand there and be beaten? I don't understand it. It made me wonder why someone wouldn't fight back. I've never been in a fight in my life however I guarantee you, someone attacks me they'd better make it count because I'm coming up fighting and I will fight to kill if necessary.

Don't get me wrong, I would never kill anyone but put me in the right situation and I am human and have every human emotion in me, I would kill put in the right circumstances. I see someone else getting attacked; I'm not standing by and watching. I'm taking a stand and will fight for the person being attacked, and frankly I don't care who it is.

For those of you that have known me for a long time, you're probably thinking this is totally not the Craig we know and love. I will never forget the day I stood over the body of a three year old little girl who had been killed by her mother's boyfriend through child abuse. Every ounce of my being wanted to see that man lying on my slab at the funeral home and not that beautiful child. If I'm ever able to prevent the weak from being attacked, you'd better believe I'm taking it. I truly mean it when I say "Not on My Watch"