Monday, November 24, 2003

The Right of No Action

The only thing I can do in life is not do something. This is the only power of choice I am entitled to, non-action. I have the right to not do many things, but yet I can’t do anything I want, the power of choice is, merely, to hold the right to not act. I do not have the right to steal what I want; I don’t have the right to kill; I do not have the right to just do whatever comes to mind; So it is I only have the right use non-action in the situations involving choice. For example if a plate of food is given to me, what are my choices? To not eat what lies on the plate is my only choice, simply because the plate was given to me to eat. To actually eat it was not a choice.
My right doesn’t lie in doing these things; it lies in not doing these things. I am not, by all means, saying that we don’t have choice to act on something; I am simply stating that I have the right to refuse more than I have the right to act. This is the turmoil of personal decisions, but the answer is more easily seen than done. For, if I do not want to pay taxes, I can simply not act to pay them. Do I have this right? Governmentally? No. Personally? Yes. I do have this right, even thought it is not lawfully recognized. However, we do according to the consequences of our actions.
I believe it is more powerful to not act and retain my right of choice, than to give my right away to the things that are really no choice at all. Those that are of no choice are the actions that are done without the recognition of other responses. Some may say that it is a weakness to not act, to choose specifically to not act. As in a fight, if I choose not to defend my self I will surly be injured, though it is my right. It might be seen as an unwise thing to do in a fight, but who has more power then? The one acting upon his emotions and using violence, or the one who simply can choose violence, but doesn’t? Surely, the one who is retaining his choice, retains much more than that.

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