Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make? Disadvantage

In her 2008 Harvard commencement speech, author J.K. Rowling invited recent graduates to take responsibility for their own lives. Rowling argued that each individual must ardently grab the steering wheel of her own life as soon as she is able. Relying on parents, professors, or peers to give one’s life direction, purpose, or structure is simply not an option. I agree with Rowling’s assertion that we are all in charge of our own lives. The complication arises,

however

, when we acknowledge that the materials we have been given to lead those lives vary greatly from person to person. In keeping with the car analogy, I may be driving a Toyota Corolla with 90,000 miles on it, while another person may be careening through the world from the scooped seat of A brand-new BMW.

In other words

, yes, we make our own choices, and we are responsible for how we lead our lives, but each one of us makes those choices and selects our paths within a framework which we cannot control. Never is

this

clearer than in discussions of privilege. Axioms

such

as, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” highlight the idea that our circumstances force us to start from different places. Oprah Winfrey,

for instance

, is so fascinating To the American public because of her “rags to riches” story: a young woman, born into poverty, who suffered years of horrific abuse from relatives, who still managed to rise to stardom, acquire wealth, and wield power with generosity and compassion. Still other public figures receive significant scrutiny for their lack of need to self-start. President George W. Bush was frequently derided for his cushy upbringing, which led him to study at Yale and a presidency which, to some, seemed to result more from his family wealth and political connections than from genuine preparedness for office. Famous television personalities and politicians provide ample fodder for the frustration many of us feel when faced with Rowling’s demand that we take the wheels of our own lives, and yet the complex relationship between personal responsibility and predetermined circumstance plays itself out in ordinary lives. As well. Having recently chosen to return to school for another degree, I feel emboldened and proud of

this

decision I am making.

However

, I

also

recognize that the support of my parents in high school–driving me to theatre practice, paying for my voice lessons, buying me as many books as I could read–and their continued bolstering of me in college has laid the groundwork for my academic success and confidence. I could not have succeeded in high school, college, and graduate school, and

then

considered more education, without their emotional and financial support. In the end, we each write our own stories; we are in charge of the choices we make. One eminent psychologist said it best when he claimed, “We do not have control, but we do have choices.” We do not control so many things: the decade we are born, the parents we go home with, the teachers who educate us. Yet we do have choices. We choose the clothes we wear, regardless of each decade’s fashion frenzies; we choose how we relate to our parents; we choose whether or not to study for the myriad tests and quizzes that pepper our twenty-

first

century educations. The outcome of

this

venture has called life will always, at least partially, elude us, but as human beings, we have been given the gift of daily, personal choice. To me, that makes all the difference.