History, people, and judgment...

George Will wrote a column in the Washington Post and our own Lawrence Journal World Sunday morning that got me thinking...

Steroids and Spring Training...

I don't know, frankly, how future generations of people and historians will think and write about Barry Bonds...

I imagine they'll write about him just as he is...

An amazing hitter and scorer who also did steroids...with far less harsh a light with the benefit of time and better judgment than George offers in his column...

But what George got me thinking about...

Was how foolish it is for good people to always try to conform to contemporary standards of judgment...

How history judges us, always, by the standards of future generations...not older generations...since older generations have long since died and are thus not able to write more contemporary histories...

And the whole thing got me to thinking about how foolish it is, period, to live one's life trying to please others, at all...how unpredictable others' judgments can be...

That's how I try to live my life...

And I get better at it the more people threaten to hold judgment over me or to hurt or threaten me in some way...

In psychology...we refer to how punishment loses effect over time because aversive treatment no longer threatens as well after its use...which is why dictatorial and totalitarian regimes often use uglier and uglier punishments and methods over time to keep control of their populations...because the initial methods wear off, over time...democratic regimes, as well, as it turns out...

But the great thing about human development...

Is that it is not based on any government's advances...

It is based on the advancements of peoples...of individuals...and cultures, societies, and other groups of peoples over time...

Governments can facilitate that growth with more adaptive means of providing security while providing for the freedom of its citizens...

Or they can hinder that growth...

In which case...self-respecting people...and really all people, over time...

Learn to value the freedom...and their own learning and growth...over the control of their governments...

...or their teachers...or their parents...or their bosses...or other people with authority...

I'm learning this lesson the hard way, right now, with some students who are following my example in ways I never predicted:):):)...

All people do this in reference to one another...it is just facilitated, best, in freer environments...where it can be best supported and nurtured...

George, I think, is overestimating by far how seriously his opinions will be taken by future generations...

The hard fact of history and reality...

Is that people in every generation...will think for themselves...and make their own judgments about what they think about matters like Barry Bond's steroids use and baseball abilities...and those ideas will change over time...as their thinking changes...

There's a lot that George writes that I appreciate...especially lately, with the more libertarian tone in his thoughts...

But George, like me, probably like every writer...overestimates how seriously his ideas will be taken by future generations...

Who do one thing without any exception...

They think for themselves...

Whether we want them to or not...

And something tells me that the more we try to force our way into their hearts...

The more they will ignore us...

That's something I've learned from experience, unfortunately...

I hope I'll never have to learn that lesson ever again...

Have a great weekend, everyone:):)...

Love,
Ben