Shifting from a culture of responsibility to choices back to responsibility

200 years ago, there weren’t a lot of choices on where you could live, what your vocation could be, who you could marry, what you could eat, what you studied…

That all changed with the explosion of industrialism. This was amplified again with the invention of the internet and Google.

Today, we have more choices available than ever before in human history.

So many, in fact, that scares us from choosing anything. Because we can imagine the other options available and it leaves us unsatisfied.

When choices were limited it was easy to push responsibility. Be responsible for the choice you made because there weren’t very many options left.

Here’s the thing, you can’t have choices without freedom, but you can’t have freedom without responsibility.

We’ve grown so used to having so many choices that when we are not sure what to choose, we follow the pattern of the last two centuries and demand more choices.

The answer going forward isn’t to keep wishing for more choices. We have plenty now. (Not everyone, of course. But for those reading this blog, we have enough choices.)

More choices are not going to make us happier.

Choose your love and love your choice.

[It isn’t just industrialism that opened the flood gates of choices. It took a few to have the guts to stand up against injustice. A few that stood out and said, “Follow me.” Follow me…we could use more of that type of courage in our culture today. Happy 4th of July.]