I See Gray

I first became aware of the term liminality in a literary criticism class at the university I attend. For those not yet acquainted with the term, liminality describes being on the threshold between two different states. Though I don't often make a point of adding new words to my working vocabulary, I made an exception for this term, as I immediately felt it described a quality I possessed.

The essay I discovered the word in had little but praise for this in-between-state, giving logical argumentation that people who reserve judgement and remain undecided on a given issue have the greatest capacity to formulate an educated opinion on it. As a person reluctant to take sides on almost any issue, after any amount of research, I thought myself entitled to this positive descriptor, enjoying it as compensation for the value judgements I feel forced into making every day.

Recently, I have begun to suspect that whatever liminality I possess is merely a symptom of indecisiveness. In other words, I refuse to take a definitive stand on important issues (gun control, abortion, etc.) not because I intend to further formulate my own opinion, but because I am afraid of the consequences that come with choosing a side.

I am a person most comfortable in the gray areas that come between right and wrong, good and bad, black and white. I would like to think this gives me a unique perspective, but I am willing to consider the posibility that this "grayness" just makes me useless. In fact, I think I will consider both possibilities. Just don't expect a definitive answer from me; I try to avoid those.