Choices: Are they frightening?

In the novel, The Giver, the Giver had told Jonas that making choices could be frightening for people. Before that, though, Jonas had suggested that maybe if things had color, they could choose what he wanted, instead of Sameness. The Giver, however, had mentioned that you could make wrong choices, and Jonas had agreed and said, "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own." But then again, in our modern day world, people make choices all the time. So just why are they frightening?


Well, the most simplest reason for why making choices would be frightening would be making the wrong choice. That would probably be the most voiced fear when making a choice. Several times, I have said to my parents, "What if I made the wrong choice?" After all, no one likes to make wrong choices-especially if they end up impacting you later in your life. Though the citizens in The Giver might cherish making choices for themselves, it might end up as a disaster later on. Jonas had also said, "What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And what if they chose wrong?" I think that Jonas has a point here. When you marry someone, you usually stay with them your whole life-and in their community, there was no such thing as divorce. The Giver had suggested that it wasn't safe. 


Another reason of why The Giver had said that making choices were frightening for people was maybe because they wanted to be the same, and not stand out like an eccentric person. Maybe they were afraid of being unique and different. After all, it mentioned that certain age groups wore certain clothes. Maybe the Elders thought that if someone was rich and someone else was poor, the poorer one wouldn't be jealous. And if someone was jealous, then they might do things they might regret later, so it could also be frightening making choices. 


Choices effect your future. If you make the wrong choice, your whole future gets ruined. Just one little choice can affect so much. Maybe that's why it's frightening-you wouldn't want to get your whole career ruined because you made a bad choice, now, would you? I certainly wouldn't. In the book, it mentions a release-and in the earlier chapters, it had described that if you are released, it brings great shame. At the beginning of the book, a pilot had read his route wrong, and flew over the town. The speakers had announced that the Pilot-In-Training was to be released. Such a small mistake, yet it impacted a whole life. Small mistake, big mistake, you would still get released if you happened to break a big rule.


So yes, making choices may be frightening. But nevertheless, making choices is how we learn. If we didn't make mistakes, then the only way we could learn would be the things that others taught us. That's a good way to learn, but that would mean you never got to experience anything, right? After all, half of our experience comes from making mistakes-which comes from making choices. So, in a certain way, making choices can be frightening, but mostly, it is just a way to experience life.