In 2006 Lindsay Jacobellis was set to win a gold medal in snowboarding. She had been in first place all year in competitions, had won her preliminary runs, and was considered to be such a favorite that tv announcers were already setting up interviews after she got the gold medal. The day of the race was perfect, and when she started with the other top 5 contenders, everybody watched as she quickly took the lead. Three of the other contestants fell on curves and were out, so now it was down to Lindsay and one other snowboarder who began to fall behind. Lindsay had a lead that was more than anyone had ever seen. With 2 of the last jumps to go, she made a choice to do a fancy kind of twist that was sometimes used in competitions. When she did, she crashed, and the tv announcers were stunned. The other racer who had been so far back caught up and passed Lindsay who was struggling to get back on the course. The other girl came in first with Lindsay a distant second. She got a silver medal, no thing to dislike, but the gold had been in her hands. A crazy choice cost her.
Sometimes choices aren't so serious but are important. Every year as graduation was very close, the churches in Wilson would give a supper for the senior class. It made no difference if any of the seniors went to their church; they would honor the seniors, showing what a sweet community spirit there was. We(remember I was the senior sponsor) would get a really pretty invitation that sometimes gave us a hint of what the theme for the supper would be: Italian, German, Mexican. But we knew it would be amazing food.
One particular supper we came to the church with our invitation and found lovely decorations. The pastor welcomed us and said a few words of encouragement to the seniors. Then he asked us to take a program that had been handed to us, read it, and figure out from the descriptions what order we would like our meal. We were to put a number by the description. Younger members of the church would give us 2 items at a time just as we had numbered them. Now if you think this was easy, think again. The descriptions gave you only the smallest hint of what the item was. There was nothing that was obvious. What a hoot! We tried working in groups, working alone, giving reasons why we believed the description was a certain thing, being brave and going by instinct. And then the first 2 items were brought to each Senior. Imagine the laughter when somebody had selected a knife and jello. Or what about a baked potato and a napkin? A tossed salad and a spoon? And of course there were those who could be smug because they had the right utensil with the right food. And it went that way for the rest of the meal. We all relaxed together and had a great evening because the choices showed that things are not always what you think they are. But in the end things will come out all right.
Business in history has suffered many failures because of choices. In the 1800s Western Union was the fastest way to send a message. Someone who had learned Morse Code could telegraph danger or success or whatever from one spot to another, and the United States was beginning to think that everything was really starting to be modern. No need to depend on someone jumping on a horse and roaring away to another town when the telegraph wires could take the message. In 1876 Alexander Graham bell patented the telephone. This new invention might really be heading in a new direction. He offered to sell it to Western Union for about $100,000 because he needed the money for more research. Executives of the company couldn't imagine that people would stop the use of the handy telegraph for this expensive, poor sounding device that hadn't been able to go over long distances. The choice was clear: stay with the success they had. But as time continued, this awkward device became more usable, more able to go over long distances, more able to be in every business, and perhaps every home in the future. It was a roaring success. So Western Union hired their own inventors to come up with something like Bell's telephone. Naturally, he sued them for patent infringement, won his case, and Western Union was faced with what they had lost, the chance to make more money than anything they had ever thought possible.Their own "magic" invention was soon very distant in popularity.Whether you are on the slopes, at a dinner party, at the ballot box, or discussing a new practice or invention, you have a choice. Whatever you decide, you live with it and learn from it. That's what separates us from the animal kingdom. Our actions follow our choices.
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