Choice

A man goes to the store and buys himself a lobster. He puts it in the passenger seat and heads toward his home. The lobster peaks out of the bag and looks at the man. It asks, “Where are we going?” The man replied that the lobster was going to be his dinner. In horror the lobster asked, “But why?” The man told it that it was because he had chosen to have lobster for dinner.
The car remained silent for a few moments, and then the crustacean asked, “What is choice?” The man told the lobster that choice is the freedom to change variables that affect the outcome of our actions. The lobster asked if it had any choices. The man told it that it would have three. The lobster smiled and told the man “that is very nice, how democratic of you.”
They arrived home and the man placed two pots in front of the lobster. He asked whether the lobster preferred the red pot or the black pot. It said, “I like the red one. It reminds me of my family.” So the man filled it half way with water. He then placed two packets of seasoning in front of the lobster. The lobster chose the spicy one, he said, “The happy boy on the picture made him laugh.” The man placed the seasonings in and stirred the water. He asked the lobster which burner he should use to boil the water. The lobster chose the furthest one back. As the water boiled the lobster thought, thought the way anything condemned to die for no reason does. He thought of the other lobsters swimming around oblivious to his horrific fate. He thought of his mother and wondered if she would miss him. He thought of his friends. The lobster looked up at the man, but he couldn’t find any more words. The water had come to a boil. He closed his eyes and awaited death. The man picked him up and looked at him one last time. He said, “At least you had the experience of choice.” The lobster looked back at him, almost smiling and retorted, “Isn’t democracy grand. We can choose which pot we are boiled alive in, which seasonings are used to flavor us, and we even get to choose the burner on which the water is heated.” The man smiled and told the lobster he got it right and that democracy was truly beautiful. Then he tossed him into the pot and boiled him alive.