Dancing Through the Cross Hairs
A discussion with my daughter this morning reminded me of the age old problem with decision making. More often than not in a marriage, the wife will ask the husband what he’d like for dinner and he responds, “I don’t care honey, you choose.” And she does.
“I’d like to go out,” she says, tired of cooking and washing dishes. Her need for people coming slowly to the surface as he buries his face in the newspaper, the television, the video games, etc. She knows if they “go out” he will pay attention to her for a few minutes. It’s always a woman’s choice, given the option. It isn’t about the food, spending money, or even about not cooking most of the time. It is about attention.
At the end of the month, or year, he looks at her and says, “You make all the decisions. You don’t care what I want.” And she looks back at him like a deer caught in the headlights… “What do you mean?”
Then she thinks about the process of decision making over the past year and reminds him how often he’s said, “I don’t care honey, you decide.”
In business, government, and other entities where there’s a group of people making decisions based on public need or choice, the same issue comes up. The general public responds so often that they’re too busy to make the choice, allowing the public leaders to make choices for them, that the responsibility has fallen to the leaders. When the public realizes there’s a problem, they want to blame the leaders, but in reality it isn’t the leader’s fault. It’s the public, who took the easy way out and didn’t make a decision.
Life isn’t easy and there’s often choices made that have reason and purpose without all the players having a part. If you want a say in what happens to your life, before the cross hairs focus on you, get up and speak out. You have a voice, but only if you use it.
Stop giving up your choices, if you want them. Make the choice and speak out for yourself.
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