Would You Chose Your Own Future?

In humanities, we are doing literature circles on a Utopia unit. Half the class are reading The White Mountains by John Christopher and the other half are reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. I am reading The Giver which is about a boy named Jonas. In his community everything is controlled and decided by the elders. Their families, food, names, even their futures are chosen for the people in the community.

Would you want your future to be decided by others? Why or Why not?

I would not like to have my future completely decided for me. I would want some advice and suggestions from my parent, teachers, or friends on what they think would be the best future for me. This is because I don't think that anyone is wise enough to make a decision that will effect everything about somebody's future alone. You will always need help from others. Even in The Giver there are a group of people deciding someone's future, not just one person. This is important because when others share their ideas with you, it might not be something that you have ever considered. Unlike The Giver, I would like to be part of the group deciding my future. I want to help decide my future because I want to have a job that interests me.

Another reason why I want to decide my own future is because if I make a wrong choice, I have to blame myself and not someone else. I think this is good because if I blame someone for making a bad decision for me, it would be very hard for me to forgive them. In The Giver, the people just send an appeal to the elders if they don't like their jobs. For us it is not that easy because we will get angry and upset if we don't get a job that we want. It is because we have feelings but the community in The Giver doesn't. I want to decide my own future because I don't want to be angry or upset at someone even if I know that it is not their fault. Also, I do not want another person to feel guilty or feel like they ruined my life.

The last reason why I want to decide my own future is because it is a decision that I want to make even if I do need others opinions to help me. I don't want to live a life that someone else chose for me. I want to live my life. In The Giver, they don't get to chose their lives and Jonas is starting to feel that it is unfair. I don't want to feel like Jonas, like I am forced to do something. Also, I only have one life to live, I will not get a second life.

"It's my life
It's now or never

I ain't gonna live forever

I just wanna live while I'm alive

It's my life!"

It's My Life by Bon Jovi

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