Shades of gray

Drawing, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I know, this is not a black-and-white photograph, it is in color. And furthermore, this posting is quite off-topic from photography, I hope you don't mind.

Recently I have been pondering the term "black and white". You can say that someone sees things in black and white (right vs. wrong, good vs bad etc.). But isn't is so that a black and white photography is actually about the shades of gray, not just black and white?

Shades of gray is what I'm dealing with in all kinds of contexts, also at work. There is hardly ever (and perhaps never) only black and white. There are usually multiple views and interpretations. And thus it is very difficult to make decisions and tell about things, as there never is one and only truth.

But how then to handle all the shades of gray, that is the question. In many cases I have looked at the same thing from opposing viewpoints, and found both viewpoints reasonable and (at least somewhat) consistent. This seems to happen increasingly often when you are dealing with information technology. It is becoming more and more complex.

But how to make decisions? A compromise is often the worst solution. A better way is to find a third way to proceed, containing some good aspects (and also some bad stuff) from the two choices. But this requires a lot of thinking, discussion, looking at the situation in a creative manner.

Managing the shades of gray is demanding indeed.