“He had a gun pointed at me; I had no choice but to shoot him before he shot me.”
“It was the only thing I could do.”
“There was no other option, I had to do it.”
These are all lies.
You might have chosen that option because the benefits outweighed the costs, but you made the choice. You chose it.
History is made by those who make choices when most of society thinks there is no choice to be made. Oskar Schindler chose to disobey his government and risk his own life to save a bunch of strangers. Nelson Mandela chose to take up arms against his government in order to defeat apartheid. On a more personal level, Kathryn Stockett chose to continue to make her work better, rather than do the obvious, sensible thing and give up or move on.
These kinds of choices, choices that produce work that effects nations, thousands, or just one person, often require sacrifice, planning, and courage.
But such choices exist. Saying they don’t limits options, removes responsibility, and kills dreams.
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