Choices, they say makes us, shapes us, shows who we are, reflects our deepest intentions. I have been sitting here for days thinking about "my choices" but as I continue to reflect on them more questions begin to arise , were my choices to where I am right now mine, or are they my friends, perhaps peer pressure, maybe my brothers, my parents , religion or my culture or just may be my community .
It was John C. Maxwell that said "Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you." Inferring that we make the choice and the choice in turn makes us , but as I continue to ponder on the choices I have made so far leading to right now I can't help but disagree with Maxwell's view point
I am currently in my final year in the University and looking back to the choice I made as regarding my course of study , was it really my choice ? After much thinking my answer to that is a no,although on the surface my answer would have looked like a yes because of the love I have for my course of study but looking deeply at it, it was my brother's choice, maybe not entirely, it was informed by the system on ground as at then that made it mandatory for a secondary school graduate to have a minimum of a C grade in five subject including Mathematics and English language which I didn't, because I had a pass which was a D grade in English language and because of this my brother helped me look for a course that I can apply to with a pass in English language and that's how I found my self choosing the course and later falling in love with the course , but then, was it really the system that made the choice for me because it raised the standard for certain courses that I might have liked to study beyond my qualifications, no it wasn't the educational system, may be my parents were responsible because they wanted me to go to school and they started the process that is ongoing even till date, but thinking about it even more I submit that it was neither my parents, brother, nor the educational system but rather the community that is responsible for where I am today . It was the community that placed premium on education (formal education) that made my parents to also do same and also made the system of education raise their standards and failure on my part to meet the standard set, made my brother looked for alternative course that I can study in the University.
Community which is a group of people that share common interests, goals, or values, and these common interests and values are imprinted on the clean slate of the individuals mind when the individual came in as an infant through the process of socialization which is a life long process of learning through which an individual acquires personality and learn the way of life of the society , through this process the choices we eventually make were already made for us
For example when I saw this community (Reflection) I was automatically drawn to it, could I have chosen not to join, in theory the answer would be yes but in practicality the choice was already made for me, but don't get me wrong, I strongly believe I am responsible for my self, and my actions but I also believe the community has the greatest share of influence on what I decide to do after all you cant choose in a vacuum,it is the community that places the options before you and also influences you on the one to choose based on the experiences it has provided you with.
For a long time now I have not sat down to reflect on thoughts or things until I joined this community Reflection some days ago created by @tarazkp and these few days already has conditioned me to reflect on a lot of things. From me reflecting on my choices so far I discovered that The community we belong to makes the most choices for us, or better put, it places options ( limited) before us to choose from and influence us on the one to choose and eventually choose.
I end by saying community is strong and compelling so we should be conscious and aware of the smaller communities we belong to