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The Choice
We are all well aware that we have the ability to choose. It may not feel like it, but if we pause, we realize in fact, that it is the singular most true thing about each of us who can exercise our mind and will: being able to choose is our greatest power.
I have believed and taught this, but as I read Edith Eger’s book, The Choice, it strikes me how easy it is for us to relinquish and fail to mobilize this singular power of ours — well and wisely.
Before it gets light, the veil of darkness must descend. This is true for sunrise as for strength that surprises.
Eger’s story drives us away from saying these truisms easily though. The words, images, gut-wrenching, heart-stopping, soul-shattering realities of her life are both so impossible and yet strangely, relatable.
“What happened can never be forgotten and can never be changed….But..I’m here, this is now, I have learned to tell myself, over and over, until the panicky feeling begins to ease.” (p7)
It may seem that all the best we can do it cope. That isn’t such a bad thing. It certainly isn’t a moral failure. Tough, dark, wicked things happen to us.
“Suffering is universal. But…