CHOICES

I wonder whom among us knows how our choices influence our life's and those of others whether directly or indirectly.
From deciding which hospital we would have our kids, the school they attend, what we wear, the friends we make even to the lady we decide to buy the sachet water from.
Let's stop and think, what if I had made different decisions in life, if I had learned harder, made different friends, listened to my parents, helped that friend in need or taken that bold step?!.
Well, who can say we can only assume since we never did!
I have learnt 'Never dwell on the Past'! That is why it is past. All we can do is to learn from our mistakes and move on swiftly ensuring we are improving on our daily life's.
To some of us our hardest critiques are ourselves always wanting the best and not satisfied until we get there. At times we also measure our performance with what others think of us be it friends or family and undermining our own judgments.
Today I read about "Constant Truths for Changing Times". One of the messages given by the Prophet Thomas S. Monson at a general conference of the church. He spoke about many things that have currently changed significantly in our lives today.
Most particularly was the story he told of Sister Monson his wife.

"Several years ago we had a young paperboy who didn’t always deliver the paper in the manner intended. Instead of getting the paper on the porch, he sometimes accidentally threw it into the bushes or even close to the street. Some on his paper route decided to start a petition of complaint. One day a delegation came to our home and asked my wife, Frances, to sign the petition. She declined, saying, “Why, he’s just a little boy, and the papers are so heavy for him. I would never be critical of him, for he tries his best.” The petition, however, was signed by many of the others on the paper route and sent to the boy’s supervisors.

Not many days afterward, I came home from work and found Frances in tears. When she was finally able to talk, she told me that she had just learned that the body of the little paperboy had been found in his garage, where he had taken his own life. Apparently the criticism heaped upon him had been too much for him to bear. How grateful we were that we had not joined in that criticism. What a vivid lesson this has always been regarding the importance of being nonjudgmental and treating everyone with kindness." 

I am convinced that most of us will have diverse meanings to this experience. Although we do not know if Sister Monson stood up in anyway to the people in the neighborhood or had a talk with the family of the young boy or himself, we are put in a position to make our own conclusions.
However it just made me think of choices we have and what we make with them. Would the young boy have chosen a different path if someone had spoken to him kindly or just corrected the mistake he made?

Everyday no matter where we are we see a lot of 'paper boys". We are faced with the dilemma of whether to step up and say something or disagree and within and silently watch what the out come will be.
It's time we took a stand, made a right choice and saved a paperboy. The next victim could be you, your brother, sister or that bright child. Lets do our best to avoid judging others and always treat them as ourselves.

Take a minute to read the full talk @ Constant Truth for Changing Times