This is actually very similar to the House of Horror and the rest of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. The books main storyline is similar to the "track" that our society puts us on from the beginning of our life. Only after reading for a while do you actually come to a point in the book where you are able to make a choice, just like how there are times our society allows us to choose which path we want to take. Those who are able to resist social pressures who rise and allow themselves to make it to the right ending.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Choose Your Own Life
Do we really have the ability to get where we want to be in life through hard work determination and making the right choices? It obviously has been done before in the history of our country, but how much choice do we have and how much does this choice actually help determine our outcome? It is obvious that not everyone is born into similar positions. Some may have to work harder then others to truly get to where they want to be in life. So even though we believe that we are constantly making decisions, are we? I think that it only seems like we make choices when really we are just so conditioned by our society that we act and make certain decisions sub-consciously because of our surroundings. So based on what kind of society that we are born into, we are placed on certain tracks where choice only occurs every once in a while.
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I agree that the social, economic, and political circle that you’re born into plays a huge role in the trajectory of your life experiences. They influence the way you act, and the decisions you make. It is important to note, as you did, that there are individuals who are determined and hardworking who overcome certain limitations to meet goals that they set for themselves. But like you said, hard work and determination can’t get you everywhere; but then again neither can superior economic, social, or political standing.
ReplyDeleteIn my sociology class, we discussed that despite the passage of laws that prevent preferential hiring based on race or gender, it is still quite common for an individual to be rejected from a potential job based on their race or gender. Race and gender are obviously something one has no choice in. Individuals may have made other choices along the way (academic, cultural, social, etc) that qualified them for the job, but in the end it came down to something they could not control. So sometimes we see that our own individual decisions end up carrying little weight, and that instead our “fate” is decided by the single choice of another.
Hard work and determination can pay off, but there seems to be a limit to this. Our individual decisions can take us only so far, and at some point, outside forces lead us one way or another. This is not necessarily always negative; I just think that it’s important to recognize that we shouldn’t be naïve enough to believe that we can achieve something completely on our own. We can be helped or deterred by others; but either way, we have to continue making choices, hopefully recognizing how each choice is influenced by others, or how it may impact others.