How many Choices do We Actually Have?

Have you ever thought of what you would do if someone put a gun to your head?

The answer seems pretty obvious: Either do whatever the shooter asks … or get shot and killed.

For the remarkable Harvey Specter from the popular show Suits, this wasn’t the case.

“You take the gun, or you pull out a bigger one. Or, you call their bluff. Or, you do any of a 146 other things.”

Of course Harvey’s take seems too idealistic because,  for real – who would have the nerves to bluff or think of anything with a gun pointed to their heads?

But Harvey’s case was just a metaphor on how people shouldn’t take the easy way out under pressure, just because they haven’t thought of any other option.

We have been accustomed to process within the ‘Either Or’ mentality, categorizing things as black or white, for or against, us vs them, and many other socially constructed forms of segregation.

Yet, it’s often unclear what happens to the grey area, or the middle ground with all its different spectrums? Why do we need to follow what’s already been followed if we don’t feel like it?

This is extremely vivid in our communities that endorse good followers who maintain the status quo, as opposed to those who challenge it.

It’s reflected in Egyptian politics nowadays, the perfect dichotomy of being banned or accepted. No grey.

If you admit you support or hate them both, you’d get this ‘oh, but you’re secretly more lenient towards one of them’ look.

It’s also evident when you witness people either making a king out of a popular leader, or bashing his entire system altogether. Objective evaluation of pros and cons is almost nonexistent.

Despite that, it makes sense to have this ‘us vs them’ approach in politics because it’s the easiest path for politicians to galvanize their people.

However, it’s not at all right to stick to the ancient strategy of the predecessors within a lot of other different fields and contexts.

For instance, we often hear fresh grads complaining that they are frustrated with their fields. We, myself included, stress out because all the available options just don’t satisfy our ambitions.

But who says we have to accept being stuck? It does not have to be a choice between accepting even begrudgingly, or ditching your major. Instead, create your own middle ground and everyone will later follow.

This fear of being cornered at the radical end of the spectrum is the reason why we have effective peer pressure because people simply won’t like to be perceived as outcasts amongst their own.

And they don’t have to.

You should not be obliged to comply with whatever’s there even if it doesn’t fit you. No matter what your situation is, there must be an exit. There is always a choice, no matter how obscure it may seem.

But it won’t miraculously appear.

We need to exert the effort to find it, instead of just using its absence to justify our indifference and lack of effort.

I understand how it’s not always realistic to find 146 different exits with a gun to our heads, but we can always get rid of the shooter now and come back to fight later when we’re ready. Choose our battles.

Who knows, we might then create THE exit that everyone else needed.