Indecision Leads to Inaction
Over the next eighty years the city-state
of Pisa was preoccupied with internal conflict and external wars. There was little
time or resources to invest in reinitiating the project. Occasionally, between
crises, on days when life was calm, Pisan officials would look out onto the Piazza
and notice the patient tower, just sitting there, reminding them that they had
unfinished business to attend. This reminder would jolt them out of their lassitude
and they'd convene their engineers and put them back to work to solve the leaning
tower dilemma.
But time after time the recommendations were
divergent and the correct course of action murky. Where one expert would recommend
an entire rebuild, another would recommend continuing with the current process.
Where one engineer would advocate digging and trenching, another would press
for filling and lifting. Officials, befuddled by the conflicting expert assessments
and not willing to take a risk, were at a loss. So, rather than make a wrong
decision, they'd make no decision at all and would quietly push the Tower of
Pisa to the back burner.
Now maybe, had they not invested so much
money and emotional energy in it, the Pisans might have torn down the partially
erected structure and moved on with a refreshing new project. But initial investment
and the lingering promise of future glory still drifted around the tower, despite
its tilt. Nobody wanted to be responsible for permanently dashing the dream of
Pisa.
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Where
Angels Fear to Tread
