IF we could go through life without having to make decisions how easy it would be huh? Or so we think. Life is all about deciding between this or that; a checked shirt or striped, or no shirt at all, between the handsome man who is a flirt or plain dependable guy, Miss India or the girl next door.
A few years back we had Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister of India who hated making any political decisions. He hoped by doing thus, the problem would go away, but it never does, does it? When we don’t make decisions we just compound the problem: Joseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first
Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He used to tell a rather strange story about his childhood. His grandmother, who raised him, once paid a cobbler to make him a pair of shoes.
The man measured his feet and told Joseph that he could choose between two styles: a rounded toe or a square toe. Little Joseph couldn’t decide. It seemed to be such a huge decision; after all, they would become his only pair of shoes for a long time.
The cobbler allowed him to take a couple of days to make up his mind. Day after day, Joseph went into the shop, sometimes three or four times a day! Each time he looked over the cobbler’s shoes and tried to decide. The round-toed shoes were more practical, but the square toes looked more fashionable. He continued to procrastinate. He wanted to make up his mind, but he just couldn’t decide!
Finally, one day he went into the shop and the cobbler handed him a parcel wrapped in brown paper. His new shoes! He raced home. He tore off the wrapping and found a beautiful pair of leather shoes – one with a rounded toe and the other with a square toe!
There’s a lesson for us all in this funny tale…a lesson about decisions: if I don’t make decisions myself, others will probably make them for me. Better that I make them myself or maybe spend the rest of my life looking down at shoes that are crazily comic. And what happens if you choose poorly from time to time? I think that’s okay, too.
At least you won’t have to wear shoes that don’t match. Besides with making a decision you improve your decision making skills and will probably do better the next time. Start today; decide..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
