Tuong Van Nguyen and Choices in Life

This morning Elysia and I prayed as we usually do, before leaving home. The difference this morning was we prayed mainly for Tuong Van Nguyen, the convicted Melburnian drug trafficker who has since died, having been hanged in Changi prison in Singapore. We also prayed for his mother. I took the opportunity to impress upon kiddo, why I often thanked God for each new day and for small pleasures and other such things in life. I don’t know if in the course of parenting an 11 year old, a tragic event like this could be used to press home several hard lessons. The obvious one – don’t do or deal drugs – is mentioned quickly. The more subtle one needs more time. Those relating to making choices in life. Tuong Van made a series of choices in his life which led to his conviction of a serious crime in a land which meant mandatory death penalty. From then on his choices became severely limited. How do I teach Elysia to make choices in life which would continuously open herself up to ever more choices? For the ability to truly choose is real freedom and real wealth. The more you are free to choose, the wealthier and more free you are. It does not depend on how much money one has or how smart one is. It depends on wisdom, and true wisdom comes from fearing God. The bad choices are those which limited subsequent choices. I think this sounds airy and all but I believe this nails it for me. Trick is – how do I make kiddo see that?