46H. K. O'HARAthe tiger is the first one the tiger will come after. And when he’s donewith the food, I could very well become dessert.”“Yes,” she said brightly, “and then the tiger will be full, so I won’thave a thing to worry about! I can just fill up my bag with gold and gohome.”“You would let me be the tiger’s dessert?”“It was your wise decision to go to the top of the mountain fullyprepared for whatever might be up there, was it not?”“Yes, but I can change my decision. Let’s not go at all.”“Well, that’s no fun—just standing at the base of a mountain wondering what’s up there. How about if I carry the food for the tiger andyou carry the bag for the gold?”“No, I’ve decided we’re not going. No matter who carries the foodfor the tiger, it doesn’t end well.”“But what if there isn’t any tiger?”“There’s no way to know that for sure—” He stopped, giving her acryptic look. “Okay, I get it. Your point being that because we don’tknow what’s up there, we can’t really make a wise decision. We canonly make a decision. Period. We can’t possibly know whether our decision is wise or not until we get there.”“Exactly. So let’s not worry about being wise. Let’s just make thebest decision we’re capable of making and let that be enough.”“I’ll have to give that some thought—it’s not the Korean way. Wisdom is highly valued in this country. A wise decision is a right decision.And making the right decision says a whole lot about who you are.”They continued walking, his steps getting slower and slower as hethought about his own words—words that told him more about himselfthan he wanted to know. All the guilt came pouring in again. Giving heran apologetic look, he asked, “Have you never regretted making a certain decision? Have you never thought, if only I had chosen differently?”“Regrets are awfully heavy, Soo-kang, and carrying them arounddoesn’t change anything. It only makes us tired.”“And if someone gets hurt because of a decision you made?”
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