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Which way should we go, left or right?

Francisco Miraval

“Which way should we go, left or right?” I recently asked my wife. It was not a question asking for political advice. It was a very real question needing a real and immediate answer.

We were driving north on a highway west of Denver when, at a distance, we saw those twinkling yellow lights used to indicate a construction zone. When we got closer we saw two Department of Transportation trucks with huge yellow arrows in the back, indicating the direction drivers should move.

There was, however, a problem. The arrow of one truck was pointing to the left of the highway, while the arrow on the other truck was pointing to the right. That was quite a dilemma when you are driving at 75 mph on the highway. The uncertainty about what to do became dangerous.

A few moments later, we passed through the construction zone without any problems. I must say I have no idea which truck was right and which one was wrong. Obviously, only one arrow could be right, but I do not know which one it was.

I think something similar happens many times in our lives. We go through life –sometimes really fast and sometimes with extreme caution– and then we see arrows or signals asking us to change direction, to move out of the way, to follow another road. And those signals many times contradict each other.

For example, we are told we should never forget our families and we should everything we do for the sake of our families. But we are also told that we should take responsibility for our own life and, therefore, we should do what we think we should do.

That tension between a communitarian approach to life and an individualistic approach to life creates many problems for those unable to find a satisfactory middle point between what the family wants and what they want to do.

We are also told that we should believe in God because, after all, this country (so people say) was founded upon traditional religious values and those values are the foundation of the greatness of this country. However, since 2012, less than half (48 percent) of Americans believe in those traditional Judeo-Christian values.

Even more, we are told in no uncertain terms that free market is the answer to many if not all the problems in the world, including poverty and suffering. At the same time, we are shown examples of how extreme, technological capitalism becomes dehumanizing.

It seems, therefore, that the way we follow in life is filled with those trucks with yellow arrows pointing simultaneously in different directions: individualism vs. communitarianism, faith in God vs. atheism or agnosticism, capitalism vs. socialism. However, you can stop life and, as it happens when you are driving on a highway, you do not have enough time to make a reasoned decision.

So, you press forward, because if you wait until the final exit in the road of life it will be too late.

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