The topic of my third essay will be a continuation of the article reading that I’ve been doing. The essay will be about decision making. I will use information that i have gathered and will continue to gather. I will write about how we were raised and how we raise our children to make the best decisions possible. I will write about the methods that adults use in decision making in their grown up lives. I will write about personal experiences. And I will focus a lot on consequences and life after making decisions in a big way. The last thing is what i will emphasize and take a stand on by siting moments in time when previous decisions have dictated future options.

So for this week, i read a scholarly article on gut decisions as opposed to normified or go-to actions taken, in this instance by doctors. The situation was like this: a boy came to the hospital and was very ill and the doctors didn’t quite know why but they did know that he wasn’t eating. His doctor, initially, figured out that his home life was no so good and that his mother sometimes forgot to feed him. The father was no where around. So the doctor decided that he would try and get the kid to eat. So he tried to make him feel comfortable and eat and it worked. then a bunch of other doctors lamb basted him for not running a thousand tests on the kid before he did anything, because that was the normal procedure. So they turned around and put the kid through a million blood tests, lumbar punctures, and other medical things and the kid became very uncomfortable and stopped eating and died. The doctors did an autopsy on his body and they still couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, so they ultimately failed. This is a tragic example of normified decisions made by groups of people who basically always just “follow procedure”. If they would have allowed the first doctor to keep going with his gut feeling of just trying to get the kid to eat, maybe he wouldn’t have died. I.e. It is important to take into account our gut feelings, even, and maybe especially, if it goes against what is “normal” or what is “expected”.

http://www.presenttensejournal.org/vol1/in-defense-of-gut-feelings-rhetorics-of-decision-making/

So I’ve read up a little bit on tattoos for this week’s blog posts.

Initially, i decided that this would be a good political artifact because it involves a life long decision. A tattoo is permanent. or it is for the most part at least. Sure in todays age, we can get tattoos removed with lasers and such, but this is an expensive and painful process. Much like the process of getting a tattoo. Therefore, i suppose that removing a tattoo is just as big a decision as getting one.

If someone gets a tattoo, i’d say usually, the person has a good reason for it. Maybe the tattoo represents something that the person likes about himself. Maybe it represents something that the person is passionate about. Maybe the tattoo represents someone important to him. maybe the tattoo is artwork that the person loves and wants forever printed on his body. Whatever the reason for getting a tattoo, it’s a life long decision that some people think comes with a stigma in today’s society.

Whatever the reason for getting a tattoo, the person who gets it is making a decision that will have a mark on their life for as long as he/she lives, most of the time. Getting a tattoo may be a good lesson to learn. it may be a cheerful event that the person receiving the tattoo feels happy about. It may not be. His/her parents may not approve of the tattoo, or they may. Whatever comes of it, there is no going back from it.

Tattoos are cool and they are definitely artifacts of a person, culture, and maybe someday of politics.

So from my reading this week, i learned that the process of making decisions as adults means that you need to have some sort of method in being accepting of your decisions that may be in some way disappointing. Some people like to give it all up to God. Because who can argue with an all powerful being that is in control of your life’s path? Makes sense to me. If what happens in your life happens for a reason and is leading you to your destiny, then you have to be accepting of your position.

Another standpoint is the “Look at your reality and adjust your expectations to be realistic”. If you can successfully do this, then you are in control of your own emotions and therefore you can make yourself happy or sad in your own reality.

I can see the benefits of both stand points. There will always be some things that are out of our control that have an impact on our lives and I could see how it can be comforting to believe that these factors are put in place by someone who has a plan for our lives.

I also can see how it is important to strive for the ability to adjust our expectations and create happiness in our own realities. We are, after all, in this life to live. If we have the power, and I think we all do to a certain extent, to take control of our emotions and of our own happiness, then we are better off in the long run. For being in a content state can lead us to making informed decisions to further promote our happiness.

As i read about ideas on helping kids develop methods of making good decisions, i agreed with a lot of what was said, but it just seemed like there is nothing like the experience of making decisions that gets you more ready to make more decisions, better. I think back to things that i decided when i was young that actually helped form a path for my life and how it impacts my life to this day. the earliest important decision i made that still impacts me today wasn’t until 6th grade when i decided that i wanted to play the drums. I wanted to do it, so i did. I wanted to get better, so i practiced and i did. As i entered high school, i picked and chose more about how i studied and how much of the subject i studied. I still love to play to this day, not much makes me feel more happy. BUT I don’t do anything with it professionally, and the busier i get in my educational and professional life, along with my personal life, the less i play. So how important was this decision overall? I think it is great still, because it impacted lots of decisions that i made in the past before i got more serious about school, and finances, and life in general. BUT i also made decisions in regards to this activity that i look back on and i wish i had done something differently. So How has this decision that i made in 6th grade impacted me in my life? Both positively and negatively. Was it a good decision? of course it was. But it wasn’t all the best. So, what is in making a good decision if that decision leads you to make both good and bad decisions? I could never expect any child going into 6th grade to be able to look into the future and see how a decision is going to impact you one way or  another 10-15 years down the road.