September 4
The Choice We Entrusted
After asking someone to make an arrangement, we may find ourselves questioning each choice they make. Why that time? Why that person? Wouldn't our usual way be better? We have handed over the work while keeping an invisible right to approve every detail. Eventually they stop deciding and bring everything back to us. We wonder why nobody takes initiative.
The Right of Decision asks for genuine discretion within a responsibility. Clear limits and necessary consultation belong in the agreement; constant interference does not help someone develop judgment. The person doing the work may also know facts we do not. Their choices will not always be ours, and some may need reconsideration. That possibility is part of trusting a human being. If we intended to retain a particular decision, honesty calls for saying so plainly instead of discovering a new restriction whenever we feel uneasy.
What decisions have I apparently entrusted to someone while secretly reserving them for myself?
The agreed responsibility includes some choices.
For the A.A. nerds: Twelve Concepts for World Service, Concept III, pp. C-9–C-11.