No, I still haven’t made up my mind what we should do in Syria.

Yes, the use of gas warfare on civilians must be punished, not only to deter further use, but to establish a precedent for other, similar scenarios in other places and other times, times when the consequences will matter much more, where much more will be at stake.

But do we really have a right to intervene in another nation’s civil war when it is no direct, immediate threat to us? We cannot predict its success, effectiveness, or the unintended consequences of our action; an action where it increasingly looks like we will be undertaking without support from our allies, or even our own people.

No, I really don’t know what we should do now, and I don’t think anyone else does, either. We simply cannot see where this will lead, no matter what we do or don’t do. And no, this is not a cop-out. When you think about it, any decision we undertake has an element of uncertainty. There is no formula we can apply, no logical procedure, no moral principle which will automatically dictate the correct course of action. Sometimes we cannot even identify the options. Some choices are easier than others, more obvious, but history teaches us we can never predict the future with any certainty. In the long run, all we can do is play the odds and roll the dice, and even then, there will be disagreement among well-meaning actors. In my opinion, we have never faced a choice like this before, a decision so loaded with uncertainty or clouded by the fractal nature of reality. I seriously question the judgement of anyone who claims he understands the problem well enough to justify his decision. In the long run, no matter how much we deny it to ourselves, we always rely on our intuition.

But having said that, I do have reason for optimism. For once I see in our people and our leaders an honest disagreement. Liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, have lined up on both sides of this issue, and both are making reasoned and sincere arguments, compelling and persuasive arguments too, relatively free of partisan politics and personal agendas.

Whichever way this turns out, we will not know whether or not we made the right decision until much, much later. But when you think about it, that is usually the case, isn’t it?

The President has done the right thing by asking for national guidance on this, although he is already drawing criticism for failing to act on his own. This is one decision we must all accept responsibility for, and if we are undecided, we must go with the will of the majority and we have the time to determine what it is. If it turns out to be the wrong choice, then so be it. We are a democracy. That is not a guarantee of success, but in the long run, it is the only authority which demands respect.

No matter how this turns out, my opinion, my belief, is that this may be remembered as our finest hour.