Hamlet Visits

I know. It's not original to borrow from Hamlet to ask questions about making choices. And yet, it's often the most concise way of posing the question:

"To be, or not to be?"

Hamlet had deeper issues -- I mean, he was contemplating whether he should take his own life -- but the economy of words there is poignant.

So, why is Hamlet on my mind?

Because Commishbob sent me a 2011 Allen & Ginter Rip Card of Yovani Gallardo that has not yet been ripped.

As this card sat on my desk in my office where I do most of my card-collecting activities, I was of two minds. Of course, I could rip open the card -- carefully -- and probably keep the rest of the card intact and still include it in my collection. Then, I could probably either sell the card that came inside, send it back to Bob as a thank you, or maybe I'd really get lucky and get a special card inside of a Brewer, as unlikely as that might be.

On at least three or four occasions, I thought about ripping it open.

I even looked at Duane's blog, Democratic Roadkill, to see how he had tried to be as careful as possible in ripping open the rip cards he had received.

And then, I put the card into the Yovani Gallardo collection -- unripped -- and walked away.

But the question remains:

"To rip, or not to rip?"

Thoughts?

And before I progress any further, thank you very much, Bob, for this great dilemma!