Art

These are some of the sketches that I drew. I used charcoal for the first two, and pencil for the last one.

Doing the Wrong Thing... or Nothing at all?

Theodore Roosevelt, one of America's most popular presidents, once said, "In the moment of decision, we have three options: make the right decision, make the wrong decision, or make no decision at all. The best thing we can do is make the right decision. The next best thing we can do is make the wrong decision. And the worst thing we can do is nothing." Obviously, the right decision is the best thing we can do. Now, the big question is, is making the wrong decision better than making no decision at all? When one makes no decision, he is either too unconcerned, lazy, or cowardly to do anything. In life, you have to take risks, and the possibility of making the wrong decision is part of that risk. To make it big, one has to be unique, and to be unique, one has to stand out. To stand out, one will have to be different. Whether people love this difference or hate one because of it, that choice is out of one's own grasp. All one has to do is make sure that this risk is worth taking, and that at least in one's own heart, it is for the right cause. Because risks make up the larger portion of one's life, and that the definition of right and wrong is in one's own heart, Mr. Roosevelt was right when he told all of America that the wrong thing is better than nothing.

First of all, life is all about taking risks. If you don't take any risks, you won't lose anything, but you won't gain anything, either. If one does what he or she thinks is right, and in the end, doesn't succeed, then at least he or she had put up their best fight. One example of this comes from the movement to break the color barrier in 1955. Rosa Parks, an African American civil rights activist, was tired after a day of work and got onto a bus. When a white person told her to move (at that time, white people had priority to bus seats), Rosa Parks firmly told him, "No." Although against the law at that time, in her heart, she believed that African Americans had just as much of a right to be respected as anybody else on the planet. In the end, she "didn't succeed" in the fight for the bus seat, but she won a much bigger battle: a battle to end segregation. This risk might have looked like a huge risk for anybody else watching, but it was the right thing to do in Rosa Park's heart, and she took it and kept on going with it, and that's why ultimately, she succeeded in her mission that started on that bus in 1955. She had done the "wrong thing" (or at least what most people thought of as the wrong thing at that time) instead of just doing nothing, and that risk payed off in the end. In another sense,one can see life as a big poker game. Decisions must be made, and to win, one must go "all in". If winning in poker symbolizes one's goal in real life, then most of the time, you can't win without the risk of losing. Those who lose because of their risk at least disappear trying their best, while those that play carefully fade away slowly. In the end, the fans recognize that person that lost big in the poker game, not that person that quietly slipped out of the game. One has to take risks to win, and whether that decision ultimately pays off or not, that's up for fate to decide.

In addition, right and wrong is what one human uses to describe an event or action according to his or her own feelings and ethics code. Since every single human is unique, there isn't a strict universal system of right or wrong, but only that little voice coming from the bottom of one's heart. Now, some people may argue that things like murder are universally wrong, but even that isn't true. Do some people think it's right to execute (or kill) terrorists? Absolutely: many people inside the United States feel that it's only right. But what is this, put simply? It's just murder, no matter what light one paints it in. We may define this as justice, but once again, is this right or wrong? This is entirely up for the individual to decide. Many people have strong opinions on this, and as any good politician knows, you just can't please them all. With this is mind, the only "true definition" of right or wrong truly does come from the individual, and from there comes the saying, "Always follow your heart." In a time of decision, that is the only way to go. Back in the eighteenth century, when America was but a colony, leaders of America followed their hearts and beliefs that starting the Revolutionary War was the only way to stop the so called "rain of unfair treatment". Since America won in the end, it is now largely believed that starting the war was based on the romantic idea of liberty, justice, and peace, since it is "the winners who write the history books." In England, though, the colonists were seen as criminals whose greediness for money led to the death of hundreds of thousands of British subjects (both on the American side and the British side). Once again, it's all a matter of perspective. But leaders like George Washington followed their heart, took a big risk, and ended up as a hero. this might not always be the case, but fighting for what one believes is essential, no matter what the cost is. It's always better to take action and fail than to grumble for the rest of one's life about something.

Truly, Theodore Roosevelt knew what he was talking about. Though the initial reaction to the quote may not have been positive, when one thinks carefully and considers the definition of right and wrong, and the role risks plays in one's life, Mr. Roosevelt would obviously be correct: it's better to take a risk and lose than to do nothing at all.