Aug 18 Tue
What does Spider-Man’s line mean: “It's our decisions that make us become who we are”?
One of Spider-Man's most famous lines has transcended the big screen: “It's our decisions that make us become who we are. And we can always choose to do the right thing.”
Spider-Man reminds us that our identity is not dictated by fate, impulses, or past mistakes, but by our actual choices, our moral actions, and free will.
At the same time, his statement affirms that each person has the power to choose their own path and that we can become good or bad people based on our daily actions.
Furthermore, Spider-Man recognizes that recovery and redemption are possible and that it’s never too late to change course and do good, as he learned from his friend Harry Osborn. Even so, one must always choose to do the right thing, even if that requires making sacrifices and seldom brings recognition or applause; we must do it right, simply out of moral duty.
We must be aware that we are primarily responsible for our own actions and the outcomes in our lives. That is, we must perceive that our own decisions, behaviors, and efforts directly influence our life events and outcomes, rather than blaming external forces such as luck, fate, or other people.
Some people blame fate for what happens to them in life—such as some of Peter Parker’s enemies (the Green Goblin blames a serum, and the Sandman blames bad luck)—but what sets Spider-Man apart is that, no matter the circumstances, he chooses to do the right thing and not become a monster.
The phrase also speaks to the maturity Peter Parker acquired during his adolescence and adulthood. At first, he acted out of indirect guilt for having caused his Uncle Ben’s death, but over time, he stopped acting out of fear of remorse and came to act out of a deep conviction about the weight of his decisions.
Choice profoundly determines a person. In choosing, one both accomplishes and limits oneself. Self-determined choices make him become the kind of person he is. Through the actions a person freely chooses to do, he gives himself an identity, for weal or for woe. This is how we shape our lives.
Morality is indeed in the heart; it resides in the goodness or badness of our choices, which are acts of inner self-determination. By choosing, we place ourselves closer to certain human goods.
As a result of one’s choice, one has a greater proximity to the good that one has chosen than to other goods that are not chosen. When we make certain large choices (fundamental options such as marriage or other commitments), we must follow them up with further choices to implement them.
Thus, if a person chooses to use deception to take another’s money, he makes himself a swindler. And his choice lasts. He will remain what—or who—he has made himself by an act of self-determination (a swindler) until he determines himself otherwise by another, radically contrary choice. Even if he repents, he will remain a swindler, but now a repentant swindler.
By choosing, I make myself.