Choices and Judgement

"Opportunities are not handed out equally. Not really."

Photo by Nagara Oyodo on Unsplash

There are many among us who struggle today, caught in cycles of addiction, poverty, or just were dealt a poor hand in life.

It’s so easy to say “If that were me, I would...”, “Why don’t they just...”, “They could always:” But statements like this miss a crucial point... it isn’t you.

We’re all different, in looks, and capabilities, aptitudes, skill sets, and problems often tend to be highly personal and to some extent subjective. We don’t always know where people come from, the roads they’ve walked, or the obstacles they’ve faced.

And opportunities are not handed out equally. Not really.

The single parent may have been widowed. The drug addict or alcoholic may be struggling with mental health issues and self medication may be the only path they’ve found. The ex-con may have 70 applications pending, desperately waiting for a call back. The runaway caught up in the wrong crowd – may have been running from a nightmare at home. We just don’t know, and their road may not have given them the answers they need.

In my work in psych, I have seen that same child from the troubled home end up in the correctional setting years later, or worse. Or how the system even after releasing someone, just can’t seem to let them truly go.

Things are never as simple as they seem.

I’d like to encourage us to try and curb that knee jerk urge to “Monday morning quarterback” someone else’s situation, and remind us to be grateful for our own situations, no matter how humble they may be.

A roof over the head.

A warm bed to lay in.

Food to eat, and clean water to drink.

A way to make a living even if modest.

The love and appreciation of another.

And the opportunity to be more than we were. If we’d like, if we choose.

These are blessings we should appreciate. They may be the norm for you, but for many others, they are just a dream.

Be kind to each other—it’s tough out there.

-KC