The Choice Is Yours

“It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” - J. K. Rowling

You choose what kind of person you will become through thousands of little decisions you make every day. Your choices have a lasting effect on who you will become. Even when bad things happen that are beyond your control, you have a choice as to how you will interpret and respond to the situation and whether or not it will make you better or bitter.

In the coffee shop of the Atlanta airport Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World – Kenny Norton, sent an autograph seeker away with the terse remark – “Get out of here, can’t you see I am eating!” The dejected sailor turned and walked away from his hero and straight toward me. I felt compassion for the navy seaman dressed in his white uniform so I tried to encourage him. As we talked over a cup of coffee, he opened up and our conversation went quickly to a much deeper level than either of us had expected.

That seaman had started out seeking his hero’s autograph and meeting disappointment; he ended up talking to someone just as ordinary as he was and making a new friend.

I was very unimpressed with the boxer that day and very pleasantly surprised by the sailor. In the eyes of many, the boxer had made all the right moves but I saw something else. I was looking at a man who had made some choices that had given him a black eye – at least in the mind of two people I knew. He had fought for fortune and fame and lost his compassion for others. Whether or not to devalue others is a choice we all face at one time or another. Choose carefully, your choice will either build your legacy or tear it down. Choices – we all make them every day. But in the end – they make us.

“Choose to cultivate your inner person and don’t sacrifice your character on the road to success.”