Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and assignment below:

　　For a variety of reasons, people often make choices that have negative results. Later, they regret these choices, finding out too late that bad choices can be costly. On the other hand, decisions that seem completely reasonable when they are made may also be the cause of later disappointment and suffering. What looks like a wonderful idea at one time can later seem like the worst decision that could have been made. Good choices, too, can be costly.

Assignment:
Are bad choices and good choices equally likely to have negative consequences? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

　　In most cases, bad choices are more costly than good choices. Choosing to procrastinate, for example, is an obviously bad choice that will have negative consequences in the form of stress and sleep deprivation. Managing my time wisely, on the other hand, is an obviously good choice that will positively affect me by giving me free time and by saving me stress. These are obvious and common examples where making a bad choice is more likely to have negative consequences than a good choice.

　　There are occasions where the good choice is the costly choice - these are often choices for the greater good, choices involving sacrifice, choices where, although others may benefit, one will be negatively affected. Martin Luther Kingwas a great person who made his choice to fight for black people's rights. There is no doubt most of us have been convinced that his behaviors were right. Although it's truly a tragedy that he was killed after his speeches, no one will deny his decision and what he had sacrificed to benefit the Blacks. His death was a negative consequence for the people who loved him,but his choice was extraordinary positive and valuable.

　　Take, for example, my Head Boy candidacy. The two favorites for the position were my best friend Mahmoud and me. It was still anyone's game. But when Mahmoud lost his speech to a clumsy friend before the election, I helped him rewrite it, neglecting my own speech. I helped my friend, who could be nervous when speaking to an audience, write a fool-proof speech, filled with passion, while I went in with only a rough idea of what I as saying, improvising my way through my speech. Although my delivery was almost flawless, I was too busy to consider the audience and came off as too laidback and not serious enough. I sacrificed my chance for Head Boy because I made the good, yet costly, choice of helping my best friend. So, as the excerpt states: yes, good choices can be costly, but often only to one side - even within these cost good choices, someone will benefit. I sometimes regret my choice, but I look back and realize that perhaps my best friend deserved it more than I did - that it was a good choice.

　　Bad choices are inherently bad because they result in negative consequences. While a good choice can occasionally result in negative consequences, but this is only occasionally the case with good choices. Therefore, they are not equally likely to have negative consequences. Good choices are named in that manner because they are, obviously, good.