Every Person Is One Choice Away From Everything Changing - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

Subtitles section Play video

This video is sponsored by the book summary service, Blinkist.
The first 100 people to use the link in the description will receive free unlimited access for one week, plus 25% off a full membership.
Carl sat on his couch, looking back and forth between his phone and the ceiling, trying to figure out whether he was about to move 10,000 miles away to Australia, leaving his home, girlfriend, family, friends, job, and whole life behind, or not.
The opportunity to move had suddenly come up when his best friend, Novak, decided he would be moving to Australia with his girlfriend.
At age 27, Novak was facing a sort of quarter-life crisis and wanted to try and start something new and venture out into the world, while he still felt new himself.
Moving to Australia had been both Novak and Carl's dream ever since they were children and their family's vacation there.
They both felt a weird, natural connection with the colors, architecture, people, and feeling of the country.
They visited again several times after throughout their teens and early 20s.
On one of their trips, when they were 15, Carl and Novak agreed that they would move there when they were older, that and they would start a business together.
This would remain their dream ever since.
As they grew older, though, like most dreams, it began to take a backseat to reality.
Carl went to college for accounting in his hometown of Boston and got a job through a professor right after school that he couldn't turn down.
Novak had a family member in a tech startup company in Boston, and as a result, he was given an opportunity to work for the company.
However, after four years of Novak working for the company, it was suddenly acquired and he was out of a job.
As part of the layoff, he was provided with a nice-sized severance package.
And now, with some new extra money and nothing else stopping him, he decided he wanted to start a business and take a major leap of faith in his life.
His girlfriend, somewhat of a free spirit, was on board with him.
Novak came up with the idea of moving to Australia and creating an eco-friendly agri-tech company that utilized Australia's farming industry and its demand for local, farmed-fresh organic food.
One month later, Novak told Carl that he and his girlfriend were moving to Australia within the next couple months.
He told him about the business idea that he and his girlfriend worked on together and showed him the beta website and app he created.
It looked and sounded great and well thought out.
Novak's girlfriend had experience working in logistics and Novak understood the business and technology side.
They were the perfect duo.
When Carl didn't fully understand, Novak explained to him that he wanted him to be a partner in the business and that he should move to Australia with them.
He told Carl it would be perfect and he could initially be in charge of sales, marketing, outreach, budgeting, and all the finances.
He reminded Carl of their dream and told him how it would only get harder to move and try to create something like this.
He sort of ridiculed the idea of Carl staying in Boston and working a corporate job for the rest of his life, as if that's what he really wanted.
He told Carl how this business had a real chance to help people, how they could build a business model that would provide families with food who couldn't afford it and help the planet by contributing to a more sustainable food industry.
Carl agreed with Novak's points, but told him that he needed a couple days to think about it, at least.
Novak agreed and told him to let him know after he thought about it more.
Over the next day, Carl thought about all the factors associated with the decision.
He thought about how his mother had recently passed away just two years prior and he and his father had become extremely close ever since.
His father was not taking it well, and Carl's older brother had a strained relationship with his father, and so, in a way, Carl was all his father had left.
He worried that if he left, it would break him.
Carl also thought about his girlfriend Stephanie.
They had only been dating a little more than a year, but he had already started imagining a future with her.
Things were going well, and they just seemed to click right.
He knew that he couldn't expect her to go with him, and he knew a long-distance relationship was bound to fail, if she even agreed to it.
He thought about all his other friends and family.
He knew it wasn't as if they would cease to exist, but he also knew that in a way, their existence would fade a little.
Perhaps so much so for some, that it would almost be as if they no longer existed at all.
Then he thought about his current job.
He worked for a great firm with great benefits, and he had finally started making some headway in the company.
There was a lot of financial promise ahead of him, and he knew it was the more prudent career bet.
But then, at the same time, he thought about how a greater risk meant a potentially greater reward.
He didn't mind his current job, but it was fairly tedious and unexciting.
He sort of just happened into it as a means of a conservative career path.
He had always dreamed of being a part of building a business and creating a more meaningful impact and legacy for himself.
Furthermore, he never particularly liked Boston.
He had always wanted to move to the countryside ever since he was a kid.
Specifically, he always envisioned a future where he lived in Australia.
It was just one of those things that he had convinced himself of.
And now, at 27, Carl felt an urge to leave home and forge his own life for himself while he was still young.
He wondered how he could turn down such an opportunity to move to his dream location with his best friend and try to build something potentially important and helpful.
How could he turn his back on his own vision of his future when it was right in front of him?
For the following three days, Carl thought about the decision every waking second, ruminating back and forth between the potential outcomes of both choices.
After four days, it seemed as if no matter how hard he tried, he made no progress in the decision.
He remained equally unsure as to what he should do on the fourth day as the first.
Both options seemed impossible to decipher.
It wasn't an equation with numeric values or obvious reasoning.
Each option was completely different, with their own entirely different set of variables and values, with no ability to know what any of it equated to.
Carl had purposely held off sharing the situation with anyone else so to avoid getting anyone upset before he had a better sense of what he was going to do himself, but by this point, he needed someone else's opinion.
Over the next two days, Carl told his father, his girlfriend, two of his other close friends, and his aunt.
He asked each of them what they thought he should do.
Everyone gave him different answers.
His dad and one of his friends said he should go.
His aunt and his other friends said he should stay.
His girlfriend didn't give him a straight answer, but her tears said everything Carl needed to know.
They all had perfectly good, rational explanations for what they suggested, and yet, Carl was no better off.
He wondered how each answer could sound equally reasonable, but be completely contradictory.
On the sixth night of indecision, Carl went on a walk around the city to try and clear his head.
He walked late into the night, all around the city and along the harbor.
Eventually, he found himself on a bench facing the water, completely secluded in a sectioned-off corner of a pathway.
He sat, and he thought.
He thought about how his entire future was hinged on this one decision contained inside his head, that in his brain was the power to facilitate one move that would contort his entire world forever, and yet, he couldn't even know what choice was right.
He thought about how insane this was, to be given the ability to make decisions, but not given the ability to ever know the consequences of them.
He felt like he was blind and being forced to drive a car.
He wished he could just know how both options would play out.
Then he would know which one to choose.
Overwhelmed, Carl looked out at the stars and moon, glimmering against the water.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Suddenly, an older man walked past Carl and sat on a bench just a couple feet away.
This jolted Carl to attention.
He was immediately surprised by anyone being in the same secluded pathway, and was curious as to why a man who looked to be at least in his 80s would be out alone at 2 AM.
Worried that the man was perhaps unwell or lost, Carl decided to ask him if he was okay.
Politely, he turned and leaned over to the man and said, How's everything going tonight?
The man slowly turned towards Carl and said, Good.
How about yourself?
Good.
Carl responded.
Is everything okay?
Yeah, everything's great.
It's a beautiful night, isn't it?
Replied the old man.
Carl looked up to the sky.
Yeah, it is.
He agreed.
Then they sat quietly.
As Carl sort of jumped back and forth between contemplating his decision again and being distracted by the man's strange presence, the idea of asking the man his opinion occurred to Carl.
He looked over to the man and asked him if he could ask him a question.
Yeah, sure.
Shoot.
The man replied.
Carl then went on and described his predicament.
He explained the business, his job, his girlfriend, his best friend, his father, and everything else.
Then he asked the old man what he would do.
The man laughed a little, as if he had some experience or insight about the subject that was comical to him.
So, you want to make the right choice, but you don't know what the right choice is?
The old man asked.
Yeah, exactly.
Carl replied.
I'm completely lost.
I wish I could just know what both would be like, you know?
Yeah, if only, the old man said with another chuckle.
Wouldn't that make everything easier?
They sat quietly for a moment while the man thought.
Then he said, what if you just decide right now based on what I choose?
Someone who basically doesn't know you at all.
It'll be like flipping a coin, but the coin has a brain and understands the situation a little.
Somehow this made sense to Carl, and after thinking for a moment, he agreed.
He just needed it to be over.
The old man paused and then quickly said, alright, you're gone.
In a desperate clinging to reason, Carl asked the old man, what made you choose that?
I guess you'll have to find that out, replied the old man.
Carl sat for a moment processing the fact that he was going to do what the man just said.
Then, when he got up and went to thank the man and wish him a good night, he was gone.
Carl figured he must have just left while he was thinking and didn't hear him say goodbye.
Five weeks later, Carl was on a plane with Novak and Novak's girlfriend headed to Australia.
Twenty years would go by.
Carl has remained in Australia ever since he moved.
He now considers it home.
Even after twenty years, it still feels amazing to him.
A walk along the coast or into the countryside never ceases to amaze him and bring him a little peace.
He and Stephanie broke up within the first three months of trying to maintain some form of a long-distance relationship.
One and a half years later, he met a woman named Natalie and fell in love almost instantly.
They got married three years later, and they now have two healthy boys who have provided Carl's life with a great source of purpose and love.
Carl, Novak, and Novak's girlfriend's business ran for about six years until unforeseen industry changes, operational problems, and regulations forced them to shut it down.
They had tried pivoting the business model several times before it failed, all with no luck.
During this time, however, Carl discovered a surprisingly strong passion for the farming process himself.
A year after the original business ended, Carl bought a small indoor farm facility and started his own personal farming business.
The business became profitable in the first three years, but the profit ceiling is low and it brings in a fairly small amount of money each month.
His wife, who works as a freelance copywriter, doesn't bring in much money either.
Because of the low income and the expenses of two children, the financial burden made Carl and Natalie horrible and bitter to one another.
Their personalities just never quite clicked after the early phases of the marriage.
They've stayed together for the kids, but they're miserable.
Carl and Novak have remained close during and after the business and have formed a nice little friend group with others they've met along the way.
Even though the original plan didn't work out, Carl feels connected with his work, and contributing directly to a local sustainable food industry gives him the occasional sense of pride.
However, it has come at the cost of constant financial burden, heavy stress, and minimal free time.
Carl isn't happy, but he isn't unhappy.
He's a mix of both, depending on the time or day.
As the years went by, Carl visited home less and less.
He would go home and visit his father most Christmases and special occasions, but eventually he started missing a few years here and there.
The last time he visited his father was at his funeral.
At the service, Carl stood looking down at his father's lifeless body.
He looked around at old friends, family members, neighbors, his brother who he hadn't seen in five years.
He looked at his wife.
He immediately needed to get some fresh air.
After the service was over, he walked to the bar down the street that he would go to when he was in his 20s.
As fate would have it, he passed by Stephanie.
They noticed each other, hugged, and talked for a little while.
Carl told her why he was home, and she said she was sorry.
It was weird.
He felt at ease, almost as if they didn't miss a beat.
He felt more comfortable with her in that moment than he had in a long time.
After a little, they said how great it was to see each other and went their separate ways.
Carl sat at the bar, drinking, alone.
He thought back to the day he left and felt a weird sense of regret.
He wondered if he did the wrong thing, leaving his father and family and Stephanie, leaving his good job that would have certainly paid away most of his current problems.
He remembered how he let some stranger make such an important decision for him and suddenly felt like his regret wasn't even his, which made it feel exponentially worse.
Later that night, Carl walked around the city by himself to try to clear his head.
He walked down the edge of the city, along the harbor.
He sat down on the same bench he sat on many years ago, facing the water.
He sat back in the bench, looking up at the stars, closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply.
He sat there for a moment.
Suddenly, an old man poked Carl's shoulder.
Carl, disoriented, opened his eyes to an old man standing above him.
Before Carl could say anything, the old man asked him if he was okay.
Carl, having realized he must have passed out on the bench, told the man he was fine and just fell asleep.
The old man sat on the bench a few feet away as he explained to Carl how it was unsafe to fall asleep alone in such an area.
You're likely to get robbed or something, he said.
Carl agreed and said it was an accident.
He explained to the old man that he hadn't been able to get much sleep the last several days because he had been trying to make the decision about whether or not he would be moving to Australia.
After talking for a little while and explaining his predicament about the business, his best friend, his father, and everything else, Carl had the idea to ask the old man what he thought he should do.
The man laughed a little as if he had some experience or insight about the subject that was comical to him.
After a little more conversation, the man said, What if you just decide right now based on what I choose?
Someone who basically doesn't know you at all.
It'll be like flipping a coin, but the coin has a brain and understands the situation a little.
Stricken with a weird sense of deja vu, Carl agreed.
He just needed it to be over.
The old man paused for a moment and then quickly said, All right, you're staying.
In a desperate clinging to reason, Carl asked, Why, what made you choose that?
I guess you'll have to find that out, said the old man.
Five weeks later, Novak was on a plane for Australia, while Carl ate dinner with Stephanie and his father.
Twenty years would go by.
Carl has stayed in the Boston area.
He has climbed the ranks in his career field and has become chief financial officer for a nice mid-sized company.
He is making an incredible salary.
He married Stephanie a couple years after deciding to stay.
They decided against having children because Stephanie was against it, and Carl wasn't sure himself and was willing to concede.
Over the years, their love grew stronger and stronger.
They fight like any couple, but there's a luster in their relationship that's rare and always present.
They seem to just click, as if their personalities were meant to work together.
Their relationship has provided Carl with a great source of love and purpose in his life.
Carl had also remained close with his father and helped him into his old age.
They've maintained a close bond that Carl cherishes.
Most of Carl's other friends, however, have moved away or drifted apart.
Novak and Carl sort of lost contact as well, only seeing each other once every year or so, if that.
With no children and a higher income, money has never really been an issue and his personal life is fairly stress-free.
He never really came around to liking his job, though.
As he climbed the corporate ranks, it came with increasing bureaucratic tedium, and he The longer he stayed, though, the harder it was to leave.
As he's aged, he's felt a sense of boredom, hollowness, and social isolation in his life.
He isn't happy, but he isn't unhappy.
He is a mix of both, depending on the time or day.
On his 48th birthday, Carl had a party.
Novak flew out, along with a couple other old friends.
At the party, Carl spent a good deal of time catching up with Novak, and Novak told him all about the last couple years in Australia.
He told him how his three kids were doing, and how well the business was doing.
Carl asked Novak about some details in the business, and Novak explained how their third partner, who they had found when they first moved, and had helped them get the business through some hard times, was now playing a key role in the business moving into foreign markets.
He told Carl the business was helping thousands of families each month, and he was extremely proud of it.
Then he told Carl he wished he would have been the person he was talking about instead.
Carl saw the pride and enthusiasm in Novak's eyes when he spoke about his children and his business.
Carl looked around at his co-workers, at his apartment.
He suddenly felt a sense of doubt and regret in his life's path.
He wondered if he did the wrong thing.
He thought about how he let some stranger make such an important choice for him.
The worst part wasn't even that his life was bad or good, but that, in this moment, it almost felt like it wasn't even his to regret.
At the end of the night, after mostly everyone went home, Carl went on a walk around the city by himself, moderately drunk.
He walked down the edge of the city, along the harbor.
He sat down on the same bench he sat on many years ago, facing the water.
He sat back in the bench, looked up at the stars, closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply.
Suddenly, an old man poked Carl in the shoulder.
Carl, disoriented, opened his eyes to an old man standing above him.
Before Carl could say anything, the old man asked if he was okay.
Carl having realized he must have passed out, told the man he was okay and just fell asleep.
The old man sat on the bench a few feet away as he explained to Carl how it was unsafe to fall asleep in such an area.
He likely to get robbed or something, he said.
Carl agreed and said it was an accident.
He explained to the old man that he hadn't been able to get much sleep the last several days because he had been trying to make the decision about whether or not he would be moving to Australia.
Carl explained the situation about the business, his best friend, his girlfriend, his father, and everything else.
As he did, Carl felt a weird sense of clarity.
He couldn't put his finger on it, but he almost felt like he knew what each decision would be like, like he had already lived them.
But yet, despite this, he still had no clue which one was better.
While Carl was thinking about this, suddenly the old man interrupted.
What if you just decide right now based on what I choose, someone who basically doesn't know you at all?
It'll be like flipping a coin, but the coin has a brain and understands the situation a little.
Carl thought for a moment, and then politely said, No, I think I need to decide for myself.
Thank you, though.
I thought you said you couldn't figure out which choice was right, said the old man.
How are you going to get past that?
I guess I'm not, replied Carl.
I spent the last week trying to figure out which choice was right, but maybe there isn't a right choice.
Maybe there's just a choice.
What do you mean by that?
Interrupted the old man.
Maybe some decisions aren't hard because there's a better option, but because there isn't one.
This whole time I've been worried about regretting my choice by choosing the wrong thing, as if I could even know what I'm regretting.
Regret would mean there was a right choice and I made the wrong one, but how could there be a wrong one?
The only thing I can know is that on the other side of the decision, I'll be there.
And if I'm there, no matter what path I go, there'll always be something to love, and there'll always be something to dread.
And the only thing to regret would be not making the decision for myself.
If you pick it, if anyone else picks it, if I leave it up to chance, it'll never be mine, or at least it won't feel like it.
So how do you suppose you choose now?
I guess I do my best, pick one, and move on, replied Carl.
It won't be chance.
It won't be certainty.
It'll be somewhere in between, and it'll be the right choice.
So, said the old man with a continued smile, which are you going to choose?
Blinkist is a book summary service that provides overviews and essential takeaways from thousands of nonfiction books.
By condensing complete books down to around 15 minute audio and written summaries, Blinkist makes it easy to ingest the key ideas and frameworks of a book in a short, convenient amount of time.
Covering an array of nonfiction genres, with a wide variety of subjects in areas like philosophy, science, technology, health, business, and much more, Blinkist provides a diverse inventory of authors and titles for just about anyone.
If you're interested in works of philosophy, Blinkist has great titles like Free Will by Sam Harris, The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts, Letters from a Stoic by Seneca, as well as plenty more.
If you're interested in science or futurism, Blinkist also has great titles like Out of Control by Kevin Kelly, and A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking.
Perhaps what's most helpful about Blinkist is that it allows you to easily determine whether or not you are interested in a particular author or book without having to invest too much time into finding out.
With comprehensive overviews, Blinkist makes it easy to discover whether or not a book is what you are looking or hoping for, allowing you to judge more efficiently whether or not you are interested in reading the full version.
With free time and attention spans constantly being challenged, this can be very helpful in engaging in more effective reading and learning.
A 7 day trial is completely free and can be cancelled at any time within the trial period.
The first 100 people to use the link in the description will receive one free week of unlimited access, as well as 25% off a full membership.
Again, if you're interested, please visit Blinkist.com slash Pursuit of Wonder, or click the link in the description.
Thanks so much for watching in general, and see you next video.