No choice na!
Words most of us utter when we are faced with a situation when we reached a
certain dead-end of options. Yet there are those who use this as an expression
which a progressive mind often repels. You have a choice. The world is full of
choices. You could innovate or redefine your standards. We also do compromise.
The word compromise
according to Peterson (2012) is used in two different senses, one typically
positive and the other typically negative. The good sense of compromise is
finding a common ground with another person, as in reaching a mutual agreement
about a difficult course of action affecting both of you. The bad sense is
being untrue to your core values and beliefs, as in selling out to achieve some
short-term goal.
The second one, most of
time, would be counterproductive since it will eventually erode the foundation
of a person or an organization. This would also define the person in terms of
deciding the best for him/herself or for others.
In today’s scene, it is a
bit hard to keep up with who believes what, and who is living their beliefs.
“Walking the talk” and “Doing what I do, not what I say” seem to have become
trite phrases that are discounted. You don’t have to look far to see that much
hypocrisy abounds. What is hypocrisy? According to Dictionary.com, it is “the
practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own
behavior does not conform; pretense. (Flaxington, 2018)”.
It is the pressing issue we
have among our leaders. There must be a strong one whose heart is rooted to
make the common good be materialized. But with the deficits of the families and
the educational system, the in-breeding of children seem to be on the skewed
area. Adults thrive on selfish intentions and the web it created in the society
is so intricate to align to the welfare of the majority.
The common good is a notion
that originated over two thousand years ago in the writings of Plato,
Aristotle, and Cicero. More recently, the ethicist John Rawls defined the
common good as "certain general conditions that are...equally to
everyone's advantage".
The common good, then,
consists primarily of having the social systems, institutions, and environments
on which we all depend work in a manner that benefits all people. Examples of
particular common goods or parts of the common good include an accessible and
affordable public health care system, functional education, an effective system
of public safety and security… Because such systems, institutions, and
environments have such a powerful impact on the well-being of members of a
society, it is no surprise that virtually every social problem in one way or
another is linked to how well these systems and institutions are functioning
(Velasquez, Andre, et.al., 2017).
There is indeed a great need
to function well and align our roles to the greater whole. People who have this
mindset have reached the level of actualization that they are now making their
needs as the stepping stones in attaining the welfare of the many. Those who
got sick or being bound by their deficits continue to hoard things and
accolades for themselves.
Choice theory is the study
of how decisions get made. The term was coined in a book of the same name by
William Glasser, who argued that all choices are made to satisfy five basic
needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun.
Underlying these basic ways
of thinking about, according to Ye (2017) is the assumption we truly understand
our preferences and how to weigh them against each other. But what happens when
freedom conflicts with power? How do you choose when two options will provide
you with equal amounts of fun?
One thing to keep in mind is
the importance of others as well as the self. This could lead the person to
decide well not just to arrive to an escapist way of saying: No
choice na!
In a knowledge-based economy
. . . a knowledge worker’s primary deliverable is a good decision. In addition,
more and more people are being tasked with making decisions that are likely to
be biased because of the presence of too much information, time pressure,
simultaneous choice, or some other constraint – Eric Wargo.
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