By J.
Mar del Castillo
“It is not our abilities that show who we
really are, it is our choices,” so said Professor
Dumbledore to Harry Potter.
Life is a game, and what
people face from day to day in the exigencies of daily life is making
the right choices. Life is all about choosing among a variety
of alternatives to get to the grand prize we individually seek.
The power vested on us in the judiciary is
not an easy thing to come to grips with, for the office can be
abused. Although justices and judges are obligated to live
honorable lives, the reality is that some of them keep their
conscience intact while some, sadly, have been desensitized and have
become callous, on the rationalization that corruption is a way of
the world and they can get away with impunity anyway. With
every case raffled to us for decision, scruples always knock us and
dilemmas will always challenge our innermost being, making us choose
to yield to what or to whom. For every case hurled at us, we
take judicial notice that we suffer headaches or heart ailments
attributable to stress, for we have to weigh in a lot of things
before stamping our names on a decision that takes effect on people’s
lives. We have to think over the serious legal and moral
aspects of a case, we have to take sides if there is a conflict
between law and justice, we have to choose between the lesser of the
two evils, we face outside pressure and after rendering judgments, we
face criticisms and worse, character assassinations. Depending on the
morals we hold ourselves to, we are left to choose whether we
dispense justice or dispense with justice, we are given the
free will whether to go with the flow of a corrupt system or to
challenge it. Admittedly, even after thorough consideration and
deliberation, not all decisions we make are the right choices: either
they are outrightly wrong, or other people who do not share the same
convictions with us would see our sentencing as wrong. Whatever
path a justice or a judge would choose, one thing is for sure:
Responsibility is the price for making a choice. We hold
ourselves accountable for every decision we render, and we reap what we
sow. This principle applies to all human beings.
So we shape our lives by the choices we make.
Our choices leave their marks and ramify a lifetime. The
outcome not only influences us but also those around us. We
have the choice to live by the Golden Rule or subvert its day to day
application in wanton violation and crazy rationalization; we have
the choice of making a difference in this world or we can remain
critical of our surroundings and stay as fence-sitters; we have the
choice to stand for or espouse something or take no sides at all; we
have to pick between logic or pleasure; or between a sure and safe
option as against a riskier one but with more rewards. In which
case, we might just fall for anything.
Severe consequences, misgivings, and regrets result
from bad choices. But at the end of the day, life teaches us
that wrong choices are not a litany of mistakes we make but lessons
learned. What can be done is to redirect our lives and resort
to corrective measures, which again force us to make more difficult
choices. Although this time, we are now equipped with wisdom
and maturity to make better choices, and we are on the right path in
making a U-turn to reshape our lives. We humans are not
infallible, but we have the faculty for admitting our failures and
correcting our mistakes.
For those who are hurting and still having a hard
time dealing and forgiving the people remorseful in making the wrong
choices in the past but are now suffering the consequences of their
actions, take a lesson from the children’s book Because of
Winn-Dixie: “You got to remember, you can't always
judge people by the things they’ve done. You got to judge them
by what they are doing now.”
It’s
been a year of challenging choices. The best way to begin the
next year with a blast is to end this year well. And my wish
for all of us is that may our new year be built on wiser choices.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Significant New Year!