Knife and fork

The best decisions in his life were the ones he made on the spot and complied with ever since, never wavering. When he was 12, he decided go against fashion and grow long hair. So he did, until his hair grew shoulder length and he could braid it. Once, on a particularly cold and windy autumn day in college, he decided to become an engineer. He never regretted his decision, not even when forced to study for three different exams all scheduled for the same day. Later in life there came a point when he was forced to make up his mind to eat his food with a knife and a fork, always. At another point, he decided to start reading books, first non-fiction, then short stories, then novels. He even started listening to books on tape on his way to and from the factory. These were decisions made once and for always, and they stuck, and he was proud of himself, of his ability to carry them out, one, two, three times a day, every day.