Life is about choices

It is often said that life is about personal choices, in explaining why some lives turn out successful and others as failures. I am sure you have heard this many times. Essentially, what this analysis implies is that an entity chooses its fate by virtue of the choices that it makes. However, should not the analysis go much deeper than that given the fact that the choices people make are based upon the perceived feasibility and or knowledge of options? Is everyone working from the same equal set of probabilities?

It’s too simplistic to suggest that it all comes down to a matter of choices. Of course that is part of it, but it’s not the root of it. People are not juxtaposing between becoming a doctor, lawyer, Engineer, Physicist vs. becoming a drug dealer, gang banger, pimp, hustler or the like, then choosing to be a gang banger. Generally speaking, the choices people make are born from the options revealed to them by their environment. That which is observable therefore naturally shapes the options which in turn shape the choices. Therefore, living in a bad environment exposes one to a lot of bad options. Hence, should it be at all surprising that people who live in bad environments manifest a greater propensity to make bad choices?

It must also be noted that no human or creature is programmed to make a choice that is not a calculation to be in its best interest. Beings are programmed to survive by biologically seeking what pleasures them. It’s a simple pattern. Things that promote and cause pain are the things that threaten survival and things that promote pleasure are things that promote our survival and biological directives. For example, two of the greatest pleasures of living creatures are sex and eating and that is so because pleasure is the biological incentive so that life will make choices that promote its survival.

In light of that, people will always choose the option that promotes the greatest pleasure. People are not intentionally trying to ruin their lives, but rather, attempting to bring or increase pleasure in their lives. The problem for many people is that they live in an environment where the opportunities for pleasure are reduced by poverty, so people over indulge in natural forms of pleasure like sex and eating. Others may seek drugs. Yet others may become inspired to seek artificial or material pleasures, gained via money, by way of illegal activities based upon how they see others acquiring it. Money may not buy happiness, but is certainly can and does increase ones access to pleasure. These short term pleasures often increase long term pain.

Options are also regulated by optimism or confidence in ones future. When one lives in an environment with much poverty it does not inspire much confidence and optimism. It might inspire dreams, but those dreams do not come with an observable road map provided by the environs, unless its sports, entertainment or illegal activities. Thus, when one is not confident about their future, they feel less as if they are throwing something away as a consequence of their present choices. Hence, the calculation of pleasure is based upon what it will bring for the moment and not what it will cost in the future. There is no deferring of gratification if one is not confident that their future will be gratifying. Deferring gratification is an exercise for people who are confident about their future, not for people who don’t feel they have one.

The above having been noted, success and failure of a life is not a simple matter of choices. The idea that it all comes down to choices makes the playing field seem even and as if everyone is choosing from the same pool of options. Even though an option may exist as a possibility for all, it varies widely in probability for many. Just because something is possible does not therefore imply that it is probable. It’s possible that the majority of kids growing up in Detroit or the South Side of Chicago can be Surgeons and scientist; however, it’s highly improbable due to the environment not offering such as an observable option to emulate, as well as other environmental impediments. Hence, people are not making those choices. Of course, I am not saying that exceptions to the rule do not exist, because they always do for the extraordinary. However, no solution to a problem should assume or depend upon extraordinary behavior.

We are all humans. We are not that fundamentally different to account for all the socioeconomic difference that exist between us in regards to race and class. It does not all come down to personal responsibility and choices. It goes much deeper than that. It’s linked profoundly to history and an environment created from the actions and reactions that manifest in and over time and evolves a temporal state or condition called the present. We are all striving to survive and bring pleasure into our lives. None of us are trying to purposely ruin our lives. We are all trying to maximize our lives the best way that we know how based upon the information made to us by our environments. If people truly had to walk in other shoes, they would more than likely end up in the same situation because we are not that different as humans.

The fundamental corruption of analysis is born from the human desire to maintain a sense of ranking. Few people want to believe that their stature is not the product of being better than other, whether “better” translates to smarter, harder working, more responsible or the like. People want to essentially preserve their sense of superiority over others and they cannot do that while accepting the proposition that they had some advantage over many who have achieved less than them. People are essentially competitive and want to conserve their sense of an honest victory in a fair competition. Many of us want to believe that we are were we are because we made the intelligent choices and made the responsible choices while others with less made the dumb and irresponsible choices. Its not that simple and its not that true, notwithstanding grains of truth.