We now live in a world where things are changing with every breath we take. We are bombarded on all sides with thoughts, emotions, and the behaviors of others and ourselves. The media exposes us to events occurring halfway around the world. Pressures are exerted upon us to influence us or control us.

Even in the middle of all the chaos and the changes, we have the capacity to make choices. Whether we do or not is up to each one of us as an individual, a human being. We can choose to do nothing, ignore what is happening around us, or absolve ourselves from all responsibility by telling ourselves it really doesn’t matter because it is not a problem for us. In doing so, we allow what is happening around us  to happen by not acting, by doing nothing.

We can choose to take action, to respond with morals, integrity,  and compassion. We can  accept responsibility for our role in making the world a better place for others and ourselves. We can decide to do what is right, what is kind, to accept others, to help those who are in need, and to become more aware that each of us is part of the earth and every living thing, and acknowledge that we need each other to survive and thrive. We can chose to respect one another, give to one another, and strive for peace.

We can also choose to do what is selfish and what benefits us. We can decide to let evil triumph over good, to do harm to others or allow others to do harm. We can choose to disregard all the rules of law, and decency. We can encourage others to disrespect those who are different from us, gain control over people who disagree with us, and make life miserable for those who annoy us or who refuse to conform to our way of thinking. We can choose war, create chaos, and encourage division in our Country.

No matter what we decide to do or not do, we still have the capacity to make choices. The difficult truth is: we also carry responsibility for the choices we make and the consequences that follow from those choices.

Yu/stan/kema.