Simple choices, Complex paths

This week on Facebook I wrote a sentence to see what kind of reaction I would get from people or even provoke a bit of thought.  The sentence was, 'The choice is simple, it's actually making the choice that is complicated' to which I asked if people agreed or not.  Now guaranteed not everyone pays attention to Facebook posts by specific people let alone ones that actually make you think, but if anything I learned why my friends are my friends.  It is simple, they see the world the way I see it.

I will admit that I am comforted by this thought that in my own train of thought I do not ride alone, but I also realized that in a specific aspect of my life I am a hypocrite.  I wrote the sentence after helping a friend make a decision one day thinking that this is what I practiced, I make a choice and move on.  The choice could be simple like 'should I have cereal for breakfast or a banana?' The choice is simple, but what if I made the wrong choice?  What if in choosing the banana I end up choking? It is that specific thought that prohibits easy answers.

So I learned that sometimes a choice is based on a feeling like, 'Everyone hates that co-worker even though I get along with that person, do I still keep this person as a friend or not?'  In this case, following one's intuition can be beneficial and true desire shown through from the subconscious.  One my friend recently went through was 'There is this job I want, but I do not feel qualified even though another guy I know is less qualified than me and has already had a position higher than this one.'  My advice?  Either you want it or you don't.  If you really want it that bad and you think you are better than the next person then project this even if it is not in black and white on a piece of paper. (Yes, I know paper/certifications/diplomas rule the world).  If you do not want the job that bad then do not apply. 'But I do not feel qualified.'  You see that is beyond the point here.  You never know unless you try and if you do not try you will never know or get any further than where you were before.  So there he sat, watching a guy with no qualifications in the area of the position steal the job. Wanna kick yourself yet?

I could probably go on for awhile on that issue with the job, but I think back individuals who are in the Olympics or who are head of corporations.  How do you think they got there?  These people chose to try whether fail or succeed by their own personal definition, but at least they knew where they stood should improvement need to be applied.

So why does this all make me a hypocrite? Because I have, what I am calling these days, Pandora's box. For those of you who do not know the myth, it is about two brothers, Epimetheus and Prometheus.  Prometheus had disobeyed Zeus and was tied to a rock, but Zeus felt bad that he left Epimetheus without a companion, so Zeus had Hephaestus make a woman out of clay for Epimetheus to marry.  As a wedding gift, they were given a locked gift that most people have come to know specifically as a box even though the myth does not always specifically state this.  On the box was a sign that said, 'DO NOT OPEN.'  Now we have all joked about 'curiosity killing the cat' and we all know that not knowing something can be aggravating, which is what happened to Pandora.  Her curiosity got the best of her and she opened the box.

Now as I write this I begin to realize, like many others who are familiar with the label 'Pandora's Box', that I forgot a part of the myth. Pandora opens the box, allowing all the evil in the world to be set free except one little bug who turns to Pandora before leaving and says, 'Thank you.'  That little bug was Hope.  I had forgotten that at the bottom of every evil box is hope.  My own personal Pandora's Box is filled with evil, evil that that has prevented me from moving on from certain situations in my life.  A few years ago I had the choice to destroy the contents of this box, but instead I chose to 'move on' still holding onto my past with the idea that it reminded me of the lessons I have learned.  Something I recently learned is that I may have moved on without letting go.

You see, this box represents all the dreams I had and how I allowed one person to rob me of those dreams.  I lost Hope.  So the only thing left to do is go find her.

I choose hope.

Dear Pandora,
I am returning your box, empty, but full of hope.......