A friend recently posted this meme on social media. His immediate intent was the current political situation, but in fact, it's really standing policy in any circumstance.
Sometimes we commit to things that take us down paths we wouldn't have chosen had we foreseen them. In the past I've incurred damage when I felt I couldn't back out of an initial commitment; that it was universally binding.
They rarely are. And even in matters where backing out implies a penalty, you're free to choose the penalty.
We tend to confuse anticipated blowback with lack of agency.
I had a teacher when I was young who told us that there are only two have-to's in life: you have to die, and you have to choose. Everything else is choice.
"What if someone points a gun at you?" we said.
"You can still refuse to do what he says."
"What if he shoots you?" we objected.
"Then you chose that. And if you do what he says, you also chose that."
I remember that some classmates had trouble with this notion, and petulantly rejected the teacher's point. But Zen agrees with him. Choice is always yours.
And any road, as I write this, guns aren't in play.
But I wouldn't bet on tomorrow.
These are karmic times. At such moments it's important to maintain a firm understanding of right and wrong, and what you owe.
What you have to do, and what you choose to do.
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