CHOICES
By Chas Olsen
English 10
Lees

What is it we do in life? Exist and choose. Everyday we spend on this earth we make numerous choices. From “What should I wear today?” to “Should I walk away?” We make hard choices and easy choices and “what ifs” and “oh wells.” Now, we are left with the notion of choice, what do we do? I believe that everything happens for a reason. Our choices are what make us unique, they make us who we are. What goes around comes around, something everyone knows as “karma.” An opposing force in a “swirl” if you will, is called “ying and yang.” Everything has both ying and yang, for instance shadow cannot exist without light. Most are led to believe, by those who have power or are willing to lie, that we have only a few choices, governments lay out a path in the form of laws and services. Leading us towards making choices that will benefit them. You always have choices other than those offered, which may hurt you or assist you. They are choices to make.

In my lifetime so far, I have made decisions that have both benefitted me and hurt me. When I was five years old my mother decided to put me in piano. I played for nine years until I decided to quit last year because I hated to practice. I made it to the second last level in the “Royal Conservatory of Music.” I love to play piano for my friends, and I still do sometimes to this day. It helped me with my academics as well as kept me busy and occupied. I secretly miss piano, yet I won’t admit it because my mom would bug me about it for days about how “she told me so.” I still play every once in awhile. Definitely a choice I regret making. I am grateful for the mistakes I’ve made, mistakes teach you valuable lessons. Quitting piano taught one of the most beneficial. I learned that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Instead of turning around when things get hard, you push even harder than you did before.

The summer of 2012 was incredible, and by incredible I mean I spent my whole summer dogging it with my friends. But summer 2013 was much different, I decided to get a summer job. Armed with a welding torch, helmet and respirator. I worked from six o’clock to two o’clock, Monday to Friday. I spent my days melting together giant parts of steel into screening machines. I am so glad I made this choice as I got a chance to experience what it is like to work. I learned to have integrity as well as a work ethic. It also rewarded me with a few lucrative pay checks, which I want to save towards a car! I may of had to give up my summer of bumming around with my friends, but in the end it was a much more constructive and useful choice to work.

America’s favorite pastime, baseball. The sport that I have played and loved since I was a youthful young boy, 3 years old, to be exact. I made the decision to stick with baseball. What started off a recreational activity has now turned into my entire life. I have tried many other sports and have not stayed with any of them for more than one season. Due to the fact that none of them can compare to the greatest sport of all time. Through baseball I have learned more than just the rules and the skills, but many important traits that I will have for the rest of my life. I have met many incredible people, travelled to many amazing places and experienced many unimaginable memories. Baseball has rubbed off my personality more than anything else in my life, it has really made me who I am today.

Some choices require hours and hours of thinking before they can be made. The question, “What am I going to do after