Officer: You don’t have a driver’s licence? Elderly woman: No deary; I lost it in a dare, along with my house and car, so I stole this car. 

Officer: Stole it? Elderly woman: Yes big boy! And I killed the owner!

Officer: You what? Elderly woman: Her body is in the boot along with some explosives I intend on using to hide all this evidence. 

The officer slowly backs away and calls for back- up. Within minutes huge back-up arrives and a senior officer gingerly approaches her: 

Elderly woman: What seems to be the problem officer? Senior officer: One of my officers told me that you have stolen this car and murdered the owner. 

Elderly woman: Murdered the owner? Senior officer: Yes. Could you please open the boot of this car!

The elderly woman opens the boot that is empty.

Senior officer: One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving licence. 

The elderly woman digs into her handbag and pulls out her licence. The senior officer is quite puzzled:

Senior officer: One of my officers told me you didn’t have a licence, that you stole this car, and that you murdered the owner and put her body and explosives in the boot! 

Elderly woman: Ha! I bet the liar told you I was speeding too!

Older people seem to make wiser decisions then the young, and sometimes even quickly. When we’re young we all go off and do something stupid that we live to regret and I am no exception. When I was young and stupid I studied accounting. I’m not proud of what I did, but I guess we all make mistakes. 

At uni I met a girl who said when she opened her accounting books to study, it stressed her out so much that she would go out partying, which made her feel better again. She wasn’t the only student adopting this therapy.  After a few semesters the university told her “You go girl!” but not in the modern complimentary way. 

How many times in life could we have succeeded, we should’ve succeeded, if only we had not taken so long to make up our minds. Life seems to favour those who can make decisions and make them quickly. 

Well into our accounting degree, I can remember friends of mine, and me, saying to each other: “I don’t know what I want to do. I know I don’t want to do accounting for the rest of my life!” 

There are a few big decisions in life that need a little more time to decide. But knowledge is never perfect and we cannot predict the future and so, eventually, we must act. 

Life is not a quiz show where we must only accept our own first answer. My first answer was accounting but it was the wrong decision for me and so I changed it. Most days I don’t regret changing my decision. But often the “wrong” decision is what actually leads you to the right decision, for such is the mysterious power of repêchage (don’t be lazy, look it up).

It was actually accounting and law that taught me the importance of research, procedural fairness, interfaith dialogue and most importantly, the truth.   

The quality of our lives comes down to the quality of our decisions. Herein lies the key. 

Make decisions and you will make a life.