Less Travelled By

What do you do when decisions are hard to make? I have never been any good at the "pros & cons" method. Where you make a list of the "pros" or the reasons why a decision would be good, then you contrast that with the "cons" or why the decision will cause ultimate utter destruction. In theory it seems that it might work, but it never really does.

Really, any decision that is obviously good doesn't warrant the time it would take to ruminate over it. Just as the obviously bad decisions usually present themselves in a way that should send you running and screaming back to mommy. BUT, that is never the way it works. There is always something within the human mind that is always searching for the possibilities. It is something that makes us human.

It is a paradoxical quality that in one aspect is an instinct, but at the same time acts in direct opposition to how instinct should act. Animals run by instinct. It keeps them out of danger and drives them to find food. Not that animals haven't been known to get themselves in trouble or at very least eaten by something bigger. The only thing that comes close is the mothering instinct where the mommy animal defends her babies. But even most animals realize that if they die so to will their children. So the small animals will often hide their young rather than face the opposition.

No, humans have this inexplicable quality to defy the survival instinct. Where the little guy stands up to the big guy when he knows that he has no chance of winning. We seem to be drawn to make decisions that lead us into danger. Instincts are meant to protect us, yet this human instinct sets us apart. It says, "To boldly go where no one has gone before." That is why we have moved above the animals. It also helps us to cope in this rather disturbing world. The challenges we face should make us run and hide, but we keep going. Adding even more to this paradox, we succeed because of it. Though the risk may be great the reward can be greater. To quote the poet, Robert Frost, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the road less travelled by, and that had made all the difference."