8. Agency

"To LIVE is to CHOOSE." -- Kofi Annan

Last month my bookgroup read The Giver, an extraordinary book which in fact is written as a "young adult" novel, but is so profound that I'm recommending it for all ages. I've read the book before and thought the premise was intriguing and learned some and forgot most of it. However, this time the impact it made on me was remarkable as I continue to ponder the miraculous gift of agency, moral agency - the freedom to choose. How often do we really take time to even think about the blessing of choice and how it shapes our very being, our life, our existence? It's like the air we breathe everyday, it's just there, it just is. But to contemplate how our lives, my life, would be different if that gift was taken away is truly astounding - how would we function?

I am immensely grateful for this gift, to live in a country where I can exercise this miracle daily and truly experience all that life offers. I have deep gratitude for the agency of others, and how through their actions my life has been so richly blessed. It is this same gift that can cause terrible pain and affliction, but for that I am grateful as well, for the blessings of strength and refinement that come when each of us chooses how we will react to the choices of others. Which reminds me of this quote I posted a couple months ago. I am ultimately responsible . . . it's my agency that can either bless or hurt others, enrich or destroy myself or those closest to me . . . what a responsibility, what a blessing.