Often we may hear someone remark, "A person has a choice." Seldom do we hear anything about why a person makes a particular choice from the options available to him. There are always options, but not necessarily good ones. Is there a common reason which motivates a person to make a particular decision? Yes, there is a common reason called "anticipated benefit." Benefits derived from making a choice include seeking the approval of others, avoiding pain and fueling the ego. A person's self-image, attitudes and philosophy of life influence making decisions aimed at achieving anticipated benefits.

In "The Road Less Taken," Robert Frost made a choice that may offer insight into making a choice. Obviously, he had options. He mentions two of them, "the road less traveled" and the "road more traveled." He chose to take the "road less traveled." Two other options available to him were: to take a path in the yellow woods (referred to in this poem) and to turn around and go back where he came from. The point is, he chose "the road less traveled." The question is, why did he choose the "road less traveled?" We may not know all the answers, but whatever the reasons one thing is certain, he did so in order to receive one or more anticipated benefits.

The anticipated benefits may have been simply to avoid meeting people who were likely to have been on the "more traveled road." Being alone may have been a benefit the woods offered, especially when there is silence and the opportunity to listen to nature rather than people. With imagination the reader may want to think of other anticipated benefits Frost may have considered when he journeyed on the "less traveled road." But hold fast to "anticipated benefits" as the primary motivator accounting for him making the decision he made.

Sometimes multiple factors account for making a single choice. But to reiterate it is anticipated benefits that is the primary determinant in choice-making. The decision may or may not be based on instant gratification. Other factors are costs, with money and time being major ones.

Readers are offered this challenge or assignment, or both. Consider some choices you made and ask yourself "What motivated me to make a specific decision?" Were your expectations realized? Next focus on a decision you regret having made. What did you expect and what actually resulted from your decision. Even if you received what you expected was it a benefit?

A person makes choices daily. Making good choices should be a person's primary pursuit. To do that mean being knowledgeable about many things, especially about oneself. A person is defined by the choices he makes. His quality of life or lack of it emanates from the choices he makes. A better way is to choose life in all its fullness, not death.

Coopyright 2014 by Uriah J. Fields