Sometimes we have a choice to make in which each alternative seems right.
How do we decide which right response to choose? This subject comes to mind now because with the election approaching, many must choose whether to vote by mail or in person.
One Choice May Seem Obvious
On the one hand, voting by mail seems safer; and, in fact, that is why there is an expansion of opportunities to vote by mail this year. Some people who voted in person in the primaries were exposed to the coronavirus and became ill. Some died.
Yet Another May Also Seem Obvious
But authorities and pundits in each party are warning that voting by mail can cause difficulties. One side feels that it creates an opportunity for fraudulent voting. The other side feels that mailed-in ballots might be lost or otherwise not counted; and that, furthermore, the delays caused by counting mailed-in ballots could confuse the outcome. Therefore, one’s patriotic duty is to vote in person.
Passion Can Cloud Our Intellect
So, if you have the choice, should you vote by mail or in person? There may be a temptation to allow passion to outweigh intellect. One who is immunocompromised or has other risk factors for the coronavirus might be swayed by the desire for her candidate to win to vote in person; which, for her, could be dangerous.
One who is healthy might allow an exaggerated fear of the coronavirus to prevent him from voting in person with the appropriate precautions. (Tom Friedman, in the New York Times, says [to emphasize his view], that he will “wear a face mask, a face shield, gloves, goggles, a hazmat suit, a spacesuit or a wet suit” to vote safely in person.)
And then there are those who, disgusted with the choices of candidates, don’t vote at all. They allow that feeling of disgust to override the knowledge that one of the candidates would be more likely than the other to work in their interest.
How to Decide
My complimentary Tool will help. In Step 3, instead of wishing to feel peaceful and calm, wish for a new mental pathway that will be dedicated to helping you make the right decision for whatever difficult choices you encounter.
GET THE COMPLIMENTARY Tool
