ANDERSON, Ind. —
I don’t consider myself an opportunist. I create, plan and construct based upon my plan. Somewhere along the line opportunity might present itself, but every opportunity isn’t worth taking. Choices are all around us. What do you want to eat? What do you plan to wear? Where will you decide to go to school? Who will you marry? Where do you want to live?
Life has a way of giving us choices. These options come every day. They are so frequent that our natural inclination is to make decisions without spending too much time thinking about them.
The less important decisions might be made based upon feelings and self-gratifying desires. The more complicated a decision gets the more we tend to check our moral compass, defer to our peer counsel, and even seek divine guidance. I wonder what it is like to have to make a decision that has an adverse impact on someone’s life. Or a decision that might hurt a small group of individuals, but stand for the positive outcome for a greater good.
My ideas have exposed me. They have exposed me to multiple people groups like scholars/thinkers, educators, politicians, business owners and philanthropists. It has also revealed a common thread of human nature that the choices we make have a rippling effect on not just ourselves but those around us and potentially for generations that follow.
People look away from the real issues. The overbearing political, economic, and at times social influence drives flimsy ideas to the forefront. People see what they want to see and act accordingly. The problem becomes when people of influence make the wrong decision it hurts more than just one person. It hurts good people who have lost their voice in society.
I tend to problem solve from the inside out. The underlying necessity of any decision can be evaluated from determining the motive that warrants a choice. Whether it’s abortion or gun control or racial injustice or educational inequality or the debt ceiling, there seems to be a struggle as a community and nation to make right choices.
If a man finds himself in a hole with the desire to get out the most agreeable solution and optimum choice is to stop digging. Influence is greater than money. It is with influence that money gains directive. Building a better home, a community, a church, or work place starts with being honest with what we see. It then progresses into a realization of choices/solutions that are not self-centered, politically motivated, status maintained, or status quo answers.
In a world where people see what they want to see right choices are overlooked by power-hungry individuals who serve self first. It is time people see and acknowledge the truth instead of a world that represents our individual world of influence and self gain.
Jesse J. Wilkerson is the owner of a local architecture and design firm. His column appears here every other Monday.
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Jesse Wilkerson: People see what they want to see
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