We face what we think of as choices every single day.Does choice exist? We face what we think of as choices every single day, from the moment we wake up. Should I go to school or should I skip class? Do I want lunch in the school canteen, or shall I go to the mall? Should I revise after class or should I go hang out with my friends? Our choices, no matter how big or how small, affect the way we live our lives every day.
For my video, I created a situation that we probably all face at some point: going to a restaurant and deciding what to choose from a menu. In the video, there are four sets to choose from: A, B, C, and D. However, no descriptions of any of the sets are provided. The main character in my video finds it hard to decide what to choose. She asks the waiter what is included in the sets, and the reply she gets is, “Depends on what we have for the day.”
Eventually, she orders set A – and every time she orders the same set, she gets the same food. When she decides, one day, to order a different set, she is told sets B, C, and D are sold out – so she picks set A again.
Are you blindly following the same paths that other people take? Do you simply select the same option over and over again because you feel like you don’t have any other choice?
Young people are encouraged to dream, to pick a goal, and to work towards it. But do we get made to do this too soon? At our age, we should be allowed to explore all of our options without boundaries. It’s true that, if we pick one dream from all of our many dreams to work towards, we might achieve success early.
However, we risk shutting ourselves off from other life experiences. Life is full of diversity and uncertainty. We don’t know what our next step will take us until we take it. Maybe what we should be doing, is asking, “Can we try something that’s not on the menu?”.
Unicef HK’s “Make A Video” competition gives young people a chance to express themselves. The project is co-organised by the Hong Kong Arts Centre’s IFVA, with support from Hang Seng Bank and Young Post. Check out the videos here. Email your feedback here.
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