Choose-Your-Own-Adventure

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. You remember those, the ones where you are the main character and you have to choose whether to use the foot bridge or take the ferry into the dark tunnel to get over the raging river. But then, it turns out that the footbridge is two hundred years old, shaky and dilapidated, but the dark tunnel takes you through a miraculous cave with talking animals and hidden treasure – who would have guessed. You tried to make the responsible, most probable choice, but ended up flying through the air and climbing up the fallen bridge to save your life. Choose the tunnel next time . . . but then next time the safe option really was the safe option, of course. As it turns out, those children’s authors weren’t trying to mess with our heads, they were just trying to teach us important life lessons – number one, that life is COMPLETELY unpredictable.

Sometimes you’re confronted with a decision and choose what seems like the better choice, this then leads to another dilemma, and you choose all over again. You don’t really feel like you’re choosing your own adventure. You never get what you choose. See, the thing about these books is that sometimes the option that looks like the peaceful, fun, or smart choice ends up leading you into a messy, dangerous place – not what you chose. Things are so not what they appear, lesson number two.

There is always another decision to make. This could be the one that leads you to safety and your happy ending – choose wisely. But that alligator could actually be your friendly neighbor who really does want to help you to get through the swamp; after all, that cute little rabbit turned out to be a vicious, rabies infected creature. What should I do? Does it matter? Should I just make a decision and live with it? Lesson number three: take responsibility for your choices.

Ok, so the alligator was friendly, as expected. Now you have to decide whether the white horse is trustworthy, or a mirage – perhaps he’s just a normal mule, but hey, maybe that’s ok too. Or maybe you should just hike that mountain on your own two feet and not risk the equine’s questionable intentions. Besides, hikes are nice. And at this point you know that there’s going to be another dilemma at the top of the mountain that you are going to have to figure out on your own, yet again, and that could fast-track you to the castle. You’ll be able to see where it is from up there. There is always hope – lesson number four.

Finally you get to the castle, and the story ends there, as if there will be no further decisions or problems. Once when I was sick in bed all day as a kid, I reread a choose-your-own-adventure book until I had chosen every possible choice in every possible order. I finally knew exactly how to navigate that book so that every outcome was a positive one. I spent the entire day figuring it out. It made for a very boring story. Lesson number five: just live your life, adventure is not perfection.