thought

The decisions we pay attention to - the political fights, the dividing paths history writes of, the moments of personal anguish movies portray - these are only a part of the choices that bind and carry us, the visible actions. Our lives are much more shaped by a chorus of non-decision decisions - the times when our backgrounds and our identities shape our actions, in decision points so automatic we easily miss them as they pass by.

These decisions, these choices, are called culture. We give gifts for Christmas because we always have; we pass on the left because we always have; we work hard because we are supposed to - because working hard is a part of being ourselves.

For some of us.

The great work, the great discipline that we honor and know, is not in the single decisions, but in shaping the predictable long-term choices that we can expect from someone, of honesty and steadfastness.