Amitej B

Core 2

How Our Decisions Define Who We Are

We make decisions very often. Sometimes they’re tough decisions. But they always

define who we are as people. Whatever we decide to do is what we believe in, and our beliefs

define us as people. Sometimes we come across a extremely tough situation, and you may

have to make a life or death decision. Whatever the decision, it will show who you are.

For example, in the story “A Kind of Murder”, the main character Pentecost, gets a new

teacher who has problems adjusting to the school. The teacher, Mr Warren, is having problems

managing his students, and Pentecost makes a decision which then affects Mr.Warren. For

example, on page 5, the other teacher asked Mr. Warren to demonstrate boxing. Pentecost

says “I’d seen Major Durand do this with a boy he didn’t like” (Pentecost 56), and he then he

describes how he would get hit. This shows that despite knowing that Mr. Warren would get hit

and go through pain, he still didn’t report the teacher who hit him.This decision defines him

because he knew about what the new teacher would go through, but still didn't stop it, which

makes him a careless person who didn’t care about Mr. Warren even though he was a nice

teacher and didn’t deserve to get hit like that. In conclusion, Pentecost’s decisions of not helping

the new teacher, define him as a person.

Another important decision was by Cole Matthews, who made a lot of decisions in

Touching Spirit Bear Part II. One of them is when he decided to change when he controlled his

anger in front of Peter. This answers the essential question that decisions define who you are as

a person. At the start of the book, we thought that he was not a good person, but later on, the

text says, “All of a sudden Peter bumped him hard from behind and sent him sprawling into the

water. Soaking wet, Cole picked himself up. He found Peter watching him with a smirk. ‘Why did
you do that?’ Cole asked. ‘I didn’t mean to bump you,’ Peter said innocently” (Mikaelson 223-

224). This defines Cole as a human being because knowing that Peter smirked at him, he would

normally have been mad. But he reacted with tolerance and decided not to use what he uses

most. Violence. This shows that Coles decisions define who he is as a person, because his

action to respond without anger, makes him humble.

Our decisions also have a role in defining who we are because our decisions and

actions are based off of what we believe in and our beliefs are what define us. For example, in

the story “Button, Button” by Matheson, the main character, Norma, is defined by the decisions

she makes. When she is presented with a Button, and a chance to get 50,000 with the price of

someone's life, she still thinks that it is a topic of discussion even though her husband

disagrees. Norma says, " ‘Suppose it's a genuine offer?' 'All right, suppose it is?' He looked

incredulous. 'What would you like to do? Get the button back and push it? Murder someone?'"

( Matheson 103) Not only does she continuously think about the offer, but she instead presses

the button even after calling is “meaningless”. The text says "She stared at the button. How

ridiculous, she thought. All this furor over a meaningless button. Reaching out, she pressed it

down." ( Matheson 110) These show that Norma’s decisions and actions define her. She is

defined as a very money-minded person. Even though Arthur didn't want anything to do with the

button, and didn't want to think about it at all, Norma still thought about it and ended up pressing

it. Both of these action clearly show that she is selfish and cares just for money. If she actually

thought about someone's life, even if the offer was true or not, she wouldn't have pressed the

button. If she valued all the people in the world and how one random person could die, she

wouldn't have even thought about it. In Conclusion, our decisions completely define who we are

as people because our beliefs impact our decisions which define us.

In conclusion, all decisions define who you are as a person. Even if it's a tough one, and

you make a mistake, the resulting decision will define who you are. If you take Cole matthews,

who decided to control anger, or Norma, who carelessly presses the button, not caring about
the value of life. These decisions define them. Finally, Pentecost, decides to do nothing for the

new teacher, which caused him to leave. Just judging from these decisions, you can see how

they define who you are as a person.