How do we tell wrong from right and right from wrong? When we make a choice is it based on our beliefs or what we value in life? As we move on with life, we never really think about all the choices we have made in our lifetime and sometimes we take those for granted. Making a decision can be compared to an example like having to pick which road we want to take. Left or right? We do not know where either will take us but when we make the decision and go through with the experience, we will realize if that was a generally good choice or not. Comparing life is as simple as having to pick what direction to go.
Often times when individuals have to go through an experience that impacts individuals significantly or very little, they may not realize what the most efficient choice would be. They may look for an easy way out of the situation or they may have a completely different perspective towards the problem after the experience. As in result, any choice that individuals make can impact them and make them realize if their choice was appropriate and will hopefully learn from their mistakes or little imperfections. When we first encounter a choice, humanity kicks in.
In the story, “ The Inheritor” by Frank Roberts, humanity is doing the right thing versus acting on human instinct, when it comes to survival. The ability to remain calm in dire situations is not human nature; however, it is a powerful tool used in humanity. Human nature would have the man in a “ fight or flight” state. Fight the dog, or escape to the sea and drown. Since humanity values life for all creatures, the man had to kill the dingo (wild-dog) to save both himself and the ewe: “ It was in his nature too, to come down from trees and be master on the ground.
The man does not want to save the ewe but he cannot stay in the trees forever, so this brings up the statement about humanity getting involved with choices. The man deals with the problem regarding whether he wants to help the ewe or leave it because according to him it is just a ewe so it will die anyways but the guilt he will feel if he just left the mammal led him to save the ewe. Choices are hard to make at times when we do not have much background information on the situation or much knowledge towards the problem but instincts lead us to find an easy way out of these troubles.
In the short story, the character did not intend to save the innocent, simple minded sheep but if he let the dingo go after the sheep, he might be next he thought and to not allow that he went after the dingo. Problems occur all around us, physically, mentally or even emotionally but we will never realize what the result would turn out to be if we never experienced it. Adds a bit thrill to life whether we want it or not. Choices can sometime lead to great intentions and other times not so much. The character in the short story, had no idea what would happen to the sheep, the dingo or even himself.
He started out without a clue as to whether or not he should save the sheep; he did not know what the result would turn out to be. Through guilt and pity he went through and took the dingo’s life and at the end of the story when help finally arrived, it showed how attached he became to the sheep: “… demented man who refused to be taken off unless he could bring a trussed sheep with him. ” Through his experience, he thought since he went through all that trouble to help save the ewe’s life, he is not going to let the animal stay on the island and the animal became a part of him during the whole experience.
In conclusion, the major to minor impact choices have on our lives can affect us in ways we cannot even imagine. After each choice is made, we learn some sort of lesson or value that comes with the decision that was chosen. Life is all about making mistakes but the important lesson is learning from the mistake we have made and realizing after the experience. Some decisions we make comes from carelessness or lack of knowledge/thought being put into making the choice.
Often times when individuals have to go through an experience that impacts them significantly or not at all, they may not realize what the most efficient choice would be, they may look for an easy way out of the situation or they may have a completely different perspective towards the problem after the affect of the situation. As in result, any choice that individuals make can impact them and make them realize whether their choice was appropriate at the time. Hopefully learn from their mistakes or from the little imperfections that have occurred.
