Choices

          What is choice? According to the definitely in dictionary, choice means selection. In the basic economic theory, choice is required because there are no enough materials to fulfill our desires. However, choice can be a good choice or a bad choice. I’m sure that everyone in this world has ever made a bad choice. Most of time bad choices just make us feel regret. For example, I feel regret that I chose to study in England when I was twelve because it made me have fewer chances to see my parents, especially my father. In the novel An Artist of the Floating World, the main character of the story, Masuji Ono looks back to the choices he made before. Although he made those choices in good faith, everything just turned to have a negative consequence. Before the war, Masuji Ono was “an artist and member of the Cultural Committee of the Interior Department.” Also, he was “an official adviser to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities.” (Ishiguro P. 182) Therefore, he had a right to turn in people who were suspected to be unpatriotic, including one of his purple named Kuroda. However, when he saw the authorities burned Kuroda’s painting, he started feeling regret it. “…I merely suggested to the committee someone come round and give Mr. Kuroda a talking-to for his own good.” (Ishiguro P.183) He felt that he might have made a mistake because it also made Kuroda’s shoulder get injured. Once when he talked to Dr. Seito, he said that “there are some who would say it is people like myself who are responsible for the terrible things that happened to this nation of ours. As far as I am concerned, I freely admit I made many mistakes. I accept that much of what I did was ultimately harmful to our nation, that mine was part of an influence that resulted in untold suffering for our own people” (Ishiguro P. 123) He feels so regret turning in his own purple to the committee and this just makes him get injured. This is the mistake he mentions. He feels that was his fault because the pain for his purple Kuroda was long. "…the warders conveniently forgot to report the injury and it was not attended to until the end of the war.  But of course, they remembered it well enough whenever they decided to give him another beating. Traitor. That's what they called him. Traitor. Every minute of every day” (Ishiguro 113). 

          Now, Masuji Ono looks back to the choices that he felt were in good faith, those just turned out to a negative consequence. Like Kuroda’s example, he feels so regret turning in him to the committee because it makes his shoulder get injured and have a long pain. Mr. Ono understands that his mistake cannot be taken away and he has to live with it. “Our nation, it seems, whatever mistakes it may have made in the past, has now another chance to make a better go of things.” (Ishiguro P. 204) In my opinion, I don’t think Mr. Ono needs to feel regret because that’s the job he had to do for the committee. He betrayed his purple Kuroda, so he turned him in. That’s his job. I admit that if I were him, I would also feel regret. However, I would also think that if Kuroda and I exchanged the role and he betrayed me, he would have turned me in to the committee because that’s the job for an official adviser to the Committee of Unpatriotic Activities. In fact, there are many times that we have to make a choice in our life. By avoiding having regret, we should make a decision carefully. Like Mr. Ono’s example, if he has thought carefully before turning in Kuroda, he would have never felt regret. That’s why I mention at the beginning of this article that choice can be good or bad.