Teeter Totter

Jimmy Buffet said, “Indecision may or may not be my problem.”

I consider myself a relatively decisive person, because I don’t have the patience to be indecisive. Since shopping is not my favorite sport, I don’t vacillate, but I usually buy what I need or want, and never worry that I could have gotten a better deal elsewhere. What’s done is done!

However, when confronted with change, sometimes I find it difficult to make up my mind, but often one doesn’t have a choice. For instance, I usually drive the same route to the airport, but recent construction made that impossible. I was picking up a friend, and was confronted with my great fear of getting lost. I had to make up my mind to drive an unfamiliar route. Armed with a map and a moody GPS, I white-knuckled the steering wheel, took a leap of faith and made the decision to go ahead. Since you are reading this story, you know I did not end up in New Mexico.

My friend, Pamela, and her husband, Chuck are very devoted to one another, but occasionally they disagree on important issues such as how much liquid detergent to pour into the cap of the bottle before emptying it into the washing machine. Married couples are known to have these kinds of discussions at least once a day. Finally, Pamela decisively threw the bottle of detergent into the trash, and that was the end of their “discussion.” This, from a woman who considers herself indecisive.

Granted, making decisions is hard. It’s so much easier when someone else makes up your mind for you. When someone says, “You choose,” maybe he thinks he is being nice. I think he just doesn’t want to be blamed for making the wrong decision, so he leaves it up to you. Of course, there are those people who like to rub it in if you make the wrong choice. If that happens, you can always claim that it was an educational experience.  Sam Levenson said, “You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.

Once, when driving a friend to her house, I said, “ Do I turn left?” “Right,” she replied. I turned right, and then she said. You should have turned left.” I still don’t know if she couldn’t make up her mind.

Esther Blumenfeld (When you don’t know what to do---take a nap!)