“More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision.” (Cicero) I don’t know if that is literally true, but if not, it’s close. How many good ideas were wasted because they remained simply “ideas.” Ideas without actions are merely fantasies.
I sometimes tell my students: “I can’t imagine many things sadder than to approach your hundredth birthday, sit in a rocking chair on the porch of a retirement facility, look back over the course of your life, and say, `If only’.” Even much earlier than one’s centennial mark, most of us can look back and identify moments, opportunities, longings, or dreams that never materialized because we waited too long. We hesitated. We put it off, thinking a time would come when it would be more convenient or we would be better able. “More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision.”
A friend of mine named Bill introduced me to a quote several years ago. It is deep and yet simple, wise and yet obvious. The quote is this: “Someday never comes. It is always this day.” I remind myself of that frequently – especially when listening to tempting voices from one of life’s Isles of Sirens, the voices of lethargy, laziness, complacency, procrastination, or indecision. “I’ll get around to it one of these days,” I think, and then the quote grabs me by the collar and confronts me with truth: “Someday never comes. It is always this day.”
So, what do we need to do this day while there is still time?
- What love do we need to express?
- What word of thanks do we need to offer?
- What broken relationship should we seek to repair?
- What apology should we articulate?
- What gesture of forgiveness should we extend?
- What cause should we champion (speaking up for those who have no voice or standing alongside those who cannot stand alone)?
- What lonely person do we need to just sit with, giving them the blessing of a listening ear?
- What aged person do we need to acknowledge, reminding them that the world has not passed them by?
- What child do we need to nurture, providing a model of character to strengthen them for the tough moral choices they will soon be called upon to make?
- What friend do we need to contact, just to let them know that our lives are better and richer because of them?
Who among us cannot recall putting off doing or saying something important, and then unexpectedly the other person was gone, and the opportunity to do or say was gone, as well?
And, if loving neighbor as self is a meaningful concept, then what do we need to do for ourselves? (Because love, if it’s real, can never be either/or – If you only love others, it is martyrdom. If you only love self, it is narcissism. It always has to be both/and.) So, what should we do for ourselves to make life whole?
What have we always wanted to do, or what have we been meaning to get around to, but we put it off? I heard this week of a seventy-five year old woman who matriculated to a university as a freshman because all her life she wanted a college education, but she was too busy. She isn’t pursuing a degree in search of a career, but rather because, in her words, “I don’t want to die with an unfulfilled lifelong dream.” What are you putting off that would bring deeper meaning or joy to your life?
- Is there an activity you’ve dreamt of attempting? Learning to play an instrument, learning to paint, visiting a place that has always intrigued you?
- Do you hear of plays, performances, or presentations in nearby theaters, and you think, “I’d love to attend some of those,” but you never do?
- Is there a group you think would be enriching to be part of (a book club, hiking club, garden club, civic club, church or synagogue)?
- Is there an academic course you’d find enriching (most of which are available online, if that’s more convenient – many of them free or very reasonably priced)?
- Do you find yourself thinking, “One of these days, I’d like to take up golf or fishing or whatever else again”?
- Is there an old friend or classmate with whom you’ve lost touch, and you’d love to re-establish contact, reminisce, and catch up?
- Is there a book, or poems, or a journal you’ve thought of writing?
- Is there anything that would make you happy and whole?
Whether the topic is what we should do for the world, for neighbor, or for self, a question ultimately confronts us: “Why would we delay that which is crucial?” When that question gets our attention, wisdom grabs us by the collar with an urgent reminder: “Someday never comes. It is always this day.”
“More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision.” If there’s something you feel can bring meaning to your life, what are you waiting for?