“You are free to choose, but you are not free to alter the consequences of your decisions.”
---Ezra Taft Benson
From the day we are born until the day we take our last breath, life is a series of choices. A mother may have strong hopes of breast-feeding a child, but ultimately it is the child who accepts or rejects the mother's offering, and it is the child who deals with the consequences of formula-vs-mother's milk. The child chooses when to take their first step (Beth refused to take a step until 18 months), say their first word (Michael's first word was waffle) and when to socialize with other children.
Unfortunately, we continue to make (and be responsible for) choices through elementary, middle and high school...times when our brains are nowhere near ready for these responsibilities. According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, the rational part of a person's brain won't be fully developed until he/she reaches the age of 25, yet we often choose a career and/or spouse before that age. We then spend a lifetime living with the positive and negative consequences of those decisions.
Not only that, I spent a few years making choices for another human being (sorry Mike) before I reached 25. I spent many years trying to teach my children and other people's children how important it is to picture next week, next year or maybe next decade, before you make a choice today. It might sound tedious and down right annoying to always have an eye on the future, but if it stops you from making a choice you will probably regret for a long time, then give yourself a break and take this mom's advice. (i.e. as great as that tenth tattoo might look on you when you are twenty, picture them all on your less than taut seventy year old body).
In J.B. Turner's novel, Miami Requiem: A Crime Thriller (Deborah Jones Crime Thriller Series Book 1), war hero William Craig makes a choice to kill the son of a state senator. The young man raped Craig's granddaughter, was acquitted, and preceded to taunt her when she attempted to get on with her life. While his choice was not a smart or legal one, we see why he made it. He admits to the crime and is willing to live with the consequences, but reporter Deborah Jones can't watch this basically good man be executed. This is a well written book that follows Deborah's search for the truth and ultimately the story of her career.
The Last Justice, a thriller by Anthony Franze, allows the reader to follow the choices that United States Solicitor General Jefferson McKenna makes when he is suddenly accused of killing several people and a possible involvement in the assassination of six Supreme Court justices. The book, though a little convoluted, is exciting and somewhat current as six Supreme Court vacancies must suddenly be filled.
We are all faced with hundreds of choices a day, but let me make this one easy for you. Pick up a copy of both of these books, give yourself some down time and enjoy.
As always, complete reviews of these books follow this blog.
Happy reading,
- Beverly
---Ezra Taft Benson
From the day we are born until the day we take our last breath, life is a series of choices. A mother may have strong hopes of breast-feeding a child, but ultimately it is the child who accepts or rejects the mother's offering, and it is the child who deals with the consequences of formula-vs-mother's milk. The child chooses when to take their first step (Beth refused to take a step until 18 months), say their first word (Michael's first word was waffle) and when to socialize with other children.
Unfortunately, we continue to make (and be responsible for) choices through elementary, middle and high school...times when our brains are nowhere near ready for these responsibilities. According to the University of Rochester Medical Center, the rational part of a person's brain won't be fully developed until he/she reaches the age of 25, yet we often choose a career and/or spouse before that age. We then spend a lifetime living with the positive and negative consequences of those decisions.
Not only that, I spent a few years making choices for another human being (sorry Mike) before I reached 25. I spent many years trying to teach my children and other people's children how important it is to picture next week, next year or maybe next decade, before you make a choice today. It might sound tedious and down right annoying to always have an eye on the future, but if it stops you from making a choice you will probably regret for a long time, then give yourself a break and take this mom's advice. (i.e. as great as that tenth tattoo might look on you when you are twenty, picture them all on your less than taut seventy year old body).
In J.B. Turner's novel, Miami Requiem: A Crime Thriller (Deborah Jones Crime Thriller Series Book 1), war hero William Craig makes a choice to kill the son of a state senator. The young man raped Craig's granddaughter, was acquitted, and preceded to taunt her when she attempted to get on with her life. While his choice was not a smart or legal one, we see why he made it. He admits to the crime and is willing to live with the consequences, but reporter Deborah Jones can't watch this basically good man be executed. This is a well written book that follows Deborah's search for the truth and ultimately the story of her career.
The Last Justice, a thriller by Anthony Franze, allows the reader to follow the choices that United States Solicitor General Jefferson McKenna makes when he is suddenly accused of killing several people and a possible involvement in the assassination of six Supreme Court justices. The book, though a little convoluted, is exciting and somewhat current as six Supreme Court vacancies must suddenly be filled.
We are all faced with hundreds of choices a day, but let me make this one easy for you. Pick up a copy of both of these books, give yourself some down time and enjoy.
As always, complete reviews of these books follow this blog.
Happy reading,
- Beverly
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