JOY ALONG THE WAY: BACKGROUND OF DECISIONS EASES LIFE

Sometimes when I'm doing mundane household chores I catch myself humming, or singing softly, "Ah, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found thee. Ah, at last I know the secret of it all." That's about as far as I get. Maybe because I've forgotten the correct arrangement of the following words or because I'm mentally alert enough to ask myself if I have, like the lyricist claimed, found the mystery? The secret?

I suppose there have been more words written about life than anything else, unless it be love. The two are inextricably connected. There seems to be a universal desire to define life, probe the reasons for it, how to conduct it, how to celebrate it, how to live it day by day. Perhaps this latter, a more manageable aspect of it, is something upon which we can get at least a little grip. One shining day lived honorably, truthfully, humbly, lovingly, decisively, is a shimmering, glorious thing to be desired.

Maybe life is the sum total of one's daily decisions, based upon experiences, observations, deep inner instincts and instructions from the Master. To live within the social contract as Rousseau defined it, we must make decisions, take our stand, up or down, and yet, in our great democracy, live by the rule of majority.

It makes for an easier life if, instead of having to make daily decisions on every issue that comes up, you've already confronted that issue, studied it up and down, round and round, sideways, obliquely, tangentially until you can say, "Here is where I stand." You're rid of that mental hassle. Soon everyone knows where you stand and knows they can count on you for this, that or the other. This is especially important in our social contract where we elect someone to speak for us because we can't all go speak for ourselves in the halls of Congress.

I can see you smirking and saying, "Well, of course, how elementary can you get!" OK. Whip me with a wet noodle.

So we come to a new day. First, "Shall I get out of bed and face the day?" You've faced that decision so much you don't have to ponder that over and over. You get up and face the new day. "What shall I have for breakfast?" That decision has been made too. You know through trial and error what to consume to strengthen you for the day. Oh, there may be some product you wish to boycott and eliminate from the menu to be consistent with some stand you've taken. Perhaps you think some cereal is price gouging so you turn to something else until the product producer sees the error of his ways.

Then you sit down to read the paper, if that's your time to read the paper. Ah, there now you're presented with a smorgasbord of new things to consider while living under your particular umbrella of the social contract. What! A proposal for a new big arts center just when tempers are beginning to cool over the Show Me Center? And here's property reassessment coming up at the same time we're wanting bond issues for new schools. A new road here, there. Sometimes you do feel overwhelmed with decision making. But then some local decision demanding things seem to fade into the distance to give us a little relief time, like the new Federal building and its location and the gambling casino at the foot of Broadway.

My original thesis was the more times you've wrestled with decisions the easier life becomes, even though every day may present new issues. I stand by that. I turn the page of the paper and read where our Cape County Prosecuting Attorney wasted no time in resigning from the American Bar Association because that body had voted to do something he had, no doubt, long ago studied up and down, sideways, obliquely and tangentially, made his decision, took his stand and didn't have to go through all that hassle of decision making again. Get on to the next issue. Then the next day, here comes someone else who takes the opposite position, no doubt having also studied the issue carefully. There now, where do you stand? Who do I want to speak for me in places where it counts? Do I flip the pages and turn to Ziggy and The Family Circus? Yes, if I've already studied the issue myself and taken my stand.

Maybe "'tis love and love alone" that is the answer as the lyricist states, but even love requires decisions.

Ah, sweet mystery of life, I search for thee. Ah, at last, each day, I find a little bit.

REJOICE!

~Jean Bell Mosley is an author and longtime columnist with the Southeast Missourian.