The Agony of Indecision

As we look back upon the plight of Hamlet with all his troubles and sorrows, one of the things for which he was much to be pitied was his agony of indecision his hanging between “to be or not to be.”

But Hamlet isn’t the only one who hasn’t been able to make up his mind. Even in the lesser things of life, even when circumstances aren’t so serious, most of us wrestle with ourselves in the gnawing agony of indecision: whether to go or whether to stay; whether to buy this or to buy that; whether to accept this proposal or another one; whether to take this job or some other; whether to go back to school and finish what we have started, or to postpone our preparation; whether to take the trip or give it all up.

Sometimes decisions are made by default; that is to say, sometimes we simply sit and wait and worry until time has taken the choice out of our hands. That’s one way of deciding by simply not deciding. But if we do this too often, we live too much of our lives in the agony of indecision.

All of us have to make many choices every day, every hour, sometimes it seems almost every instant some serious and some superficial. And if all of the right factors are on one side and all of the wrong factors are on the other, deciding should be a very simple matter. In matters of principle, of morals, or ethics, or honesty there is really only one choice or should be.

But in other matters, sometimes it isn’t so simple. Sometimes there are things to be said on both sides. Sometimes we have to weigh one against the other and give up something either way and these are the difficult decisions.

But we need to decide because hanging between two alternatives does much to waste time and to nullify effectiveness. And when we seem to hang in uncertainty, there are some things that may help to settle us: one is a sound set of principles by which to measure everything. We need to know the rules, the law, the commandments. Another thing we often also need is someone we can trust to talk to. And beyond our own wisdom and the wisdom of others, we need faith and a prayerful approach to all our problems.

God grant that we may have the wisdom and the faith to save ourselves from wasting life away in the agony of indecision.