Elizabeth George Speare: “We have to choose, not knowing.”
Mar 12th, 2008 by Jill
“We have to choose, not knowing.” — Elizabeth George Speare
This quote is from The Bronze Bow
But I think of it a lot in stepfamily situations. We have to choose how to act, not knowing for sure how the other person (or people) will see what we do. We have to choose how to interpret situations, not knowing for sure what the other person (or people) intended, and not knowing if there were any extenuating circumstances. There is so much that is hidden that we don’t see. We have to choose without knowing where our choices will ultimately lead us all.
Maybe the only real choice is about whether to listen to that internal compass inside us or not — the quiet place inside us that tells us what our deepest, truest self thinks we should do and that buoys us toward happiness in often counterintuitive ways — even though we don’t know for sure how things will work out. Maybe, ultimately, what we can choose is who we will be in those uncertain spaces.
I think this sentence sums it up perfectly:
“Maybe, ultimately, what we can choose is who we will be in those uncertain spaces.”