The Choices We Make and the Choices That Make Us...

As I have been going over on my cell phone minutes the last few months (especially annoying knowing I have no one to blame but myself) I made a trip to the Verizon store to change my plan. While waiting my turn I looked at all the newest and sharpest models of phones that have since become available. Bright colors and shiny finishes, slider phones that you can open with one hand, contoured phones.. they all looked so inviting and interesting compared to my 3 year old model (which has served me well all these years with nary a problem). This is no time for spending any extra money though, so I reminded myself frequently that I was "only looking!"

The sales representative was unusually nice- soft spoken, kind and quietly cheerful. He informed me, to my delight that I qualified for a free upgrade to a newer phone! My excitement came to a jerking halt when he put two phones in front of me. Both dark silver gray with a dreary finish and no identifying features, I could swear I became a slightly duller person just being in such close proximity with these technological bores. I hesitated, and asked him (with naive hope in my voice) how much more it would cost to update to a cool Razr or a sophistocated Chocolate? He laughed. "Actually, you could qualify to receive any of those phones for free, but I want to tell you that they are not very good phones, despite their aesthetic appeal. Although the Chocolate and the Razr are popular models, in the long run customers are often disappointed with them pretty quickly. I picked out for you the best models of the whole lot- better sound quality and battery life, better reception... they are superior in the only things that really matter."

I walked out of the store with my trustworthy new phone in my purse- the gray LG5400. Even knowing I had chosen the right one, I still think about that shiny red Chocolate with its easy sliding action.

I guess, having been created with free will and the capacity to choose, we will never stop desiring even those things which we know will never bring us true joy.