At several points in this book I have underscored the potential costs of inaction. I am reminded here of the Yom Kippur service, the Jewish Day of Atonement, during which no fewer than ten times each member of the congregation recites a prayer in which he or she asks forgiveness for specific transgressions committed during the year about to end. Some forty sins, reflecting the full range of improper thoughts, words, and behaviors, are noted. The last sin, however, often translated from the Hebrew as the sin of having “a confused heart,” is the sin of inaction when action is warranted.
