“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” – Isaac Newton’s third law of motion

This is not a lesson in physics, but rather an observation in universal truths. “Either/or” is society’s measuring stick, despite everything in between: Every day has a night, black vs. white, love or fight, good or evil, God over Satan.

Consider the gray area that spans the vast middle. When it comes to either/or, you can have some of both. Truth, after all, becomes black and white only after aging in the gray. Case in point: The legacy of a U.S. president.

But unlike black and white, gray is not either/or. Gray lacks the finality of black and white. Gray is a guide, not a decision. Gray is a question, not an answer.

Even if we choose gray, that choice leans either one way or the other. Some argue that neutral means to not take a side, but here’s a better definition of neutral: Not communicating what your side really is.

Indeed, it is possible to walk the line of either/or. The line is where ideologies clash, lifestyles bump heads, politics take prisoners and slaves reach freedom. You’re either sitting in one boundary or crossing into another, like a smoker or a draft dodger, like Washington state’s border with Canada or even a state joining the Confederacy during the Civil War. You’re either here, or you’re there. And you know where to find the line.

But back to that pesky gray area. Gray is a shade between the two opposite poles. Think of your political or religious beliefs, and the degrees of either/or involved with those beliefs. One shade of gray may not contain the same mixture of black and white as, say, another shade of gray. Some shades are darker, some are lighter. For whatever shade of gray you may claim, there is an equal and opposite shade of your gray somewhere else. But ultimately, the darkest gray can get is black, and the lightest gray can get is white.

Let’s refer back to Newton’s third law of motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Building on the earlier idea of black, white and gray, let’s consider water, which exists as liquid, ice or steam. If liquid is “black” and ice is “white,” then steam must be “gray” — not quite one, not quite the other, but somewhere in between. The combinations are infinite. But they are there.