Time to change has come and gone
Watched your fears become your god
It’s your decision, it’s your decision
–Alice In Chains/Your Decision
Recently I was having a discussion with someone who doesn’t know me well. He insisted that I see everything as black or white, which makes me decide things impetuously. It made me laugh, because it’s so wrong. In fact, the opposite is a little more true–I’m more prone to over-analyze than under-analyze. In either case, I am actually pretty good at making decisions most of the time, but if the decision is TOO simple, sometimes I find it weirdly difficult. One thing that always trips me up is a true/false question on a test. It’s just too artificially black and white, and I can always see a little gray peeking around the edges.
This is me taking a true/false test. Nothing easier, right?
Wrong.
Question 1. Oh, that’s easy.
True.
No, wait. In certain situations that almost never occur, it’s false
Scribble scribble scratch.
False.
Do you suppose the instructor knew about that when she wrote the exam? Maybe she meant under normal circumstances. It’s almost impossible for it to ever actually happen. We didn’t talk about the exceptions in class. Shoot. I don’t know.
Scratch scratch scribble
True.
But, still. What about that very rare thing that only happens when there is a total eclipse of the sun when Christmas falls on Tuesday during a leap year? It does technically make the answer false and it was in one of the text books on a page that wasn’t assigned reading.
Sigh.
Maybe I should write a brief explanatory essay response about why I think this is both true and false. Hmm.
Yeah.
That’s what I’ll do.
Scribble scribble scribble.
Dumbass.
If you think I’m kidding, or exaggerating, you are incorrect. I have actually done this on every true/false test I’ve ever taken that wasn’t on one of those scantron forms with the bubbles you fill in with a pencil. Those forms are anathema to me. They forced me to pick a specific answer without putting in an explanatory comment. Questions and answers are not meant to be put in a box. Questions and answered are meant to be…questioned more than answered.
True or false:
Michelle thinks too much.
True.
No, wait.
False.
At least I already wrote the explanatory comment.