Today's Articles (29/7/2025)
How to make the hardest choices of your life
It’s a misconception to think they’re hard because of our own ignorance. We shouldn’t think, “There is a superior option, I just can’t know what it is, so the best move is always to go with the safer option.” Instead, Chang says, hard choices are genuinely hard because no best option exists.
When alternatives are on a par, it may matter very much which you choose. But one alternative isn’t better than the other. Rather, the alternatives are in the same neighborhood of value, in the same league of value, while at the same time being very different in kind of value. That’s why the choice is hard.
Now let’s consider your dilemma, which isn’t really about whether to do nonprofit work or to become a corporate lawyer, but about the values underneath: advocating for marginalized populations on the one hand, and feeling financially secure enough to raise a family on the other. Both of these values are in the same league as each other, because each delivers something of fundamental value to a human life: living in line with moral commitments or feeling a sense of safety and belonging.
It’s here in the space of hard choices that we get to exercise our normative power: the power to create reasons for yourself.
You have to say, “This is what I stand for. I’m the kind of person who’s for X, even if that means I can’t fulfill Y!” And then, through making that hard choice, you become that person.
So ask yourself: Who do you want to be? Do you want to be the kind of person who serves profitable clients, possibly to the detriment of marginalized people, in order to be able to provide generously for a family? Or do you want to advocate for those who most need an advocate, even if it means you can’t afford to own property or send your kids to the best schools?
With the plastic in its gut, the burrowing earthworm will find it more difficult to digest nutrients, and is likely to start shedding weight. The damage might not be visible but for insects, eating plastic has been linked to stunted growth, reduced fertility and problems with the liver, kidney and stomach.