I was reminded today that deciding not to decide is a decision. And sometimes, it is a virtuous decision.

Deciding is taking a stand. It is declaring to the world who we are.

This is the opposite of declining to choose. To let things go. This is often an attempt to avoid making a decision, but to let circumstances make it for you. This is the infamous white moderate Martin Luther King, Jr. condemned: the one who is not bad for doing bad things, but bad for doing nothing when the bad do bad things.

Deciding to not decide is affirmative in the same way declining to decide is passive. We are making a decision and standing behind it.

When we decide, there is no place to hide. No sense of happenstance or accidental non-commitment.

It is bold.

And once we are bold, we have a new consequence to deal with.

We have to make the case that these two or three options really are worth it.

If you can decide between the surf or the turf, you can ask “which is better” and pass the responsibility to the waiter. Or you can order two dinners and prepare to stuff yourself.

And when you decide, you’ll get what you want.