by Garrett Anderson

Created on: November 06, 2009

Exercising good judgment and rendering accurate appraisals based on reliable information can be quite useful. Rendering false or damaging judgments based on assumptions and inaccurate information can be very harmful. In fact, quite often it can be harmful and embarrassing to the person doing the judging. It stands to reason that we should be able to distinguish the good from the bad when it comes to judging others.

Exercising good judgment requires accurate information based in or on reliable data or facts. Often the best indicator of future events is past performance. That method is applied uniformly by risk managers. Events and situations, based on prior history, can be managed or predicted to an extent. Accurate judgments and appraisals allow us to choose classes that interest us, jobs that fulfill our needs, recreation that we find fun and entertaining. Accurate judging allows us to avoid danger and make responsible decisions. All of this judging works in a fairly dependable fashion until we introduce the great wild card, human beings. It is at that point, when all bets should be taken off.

No other creature on this planet is more insane than a human being. Human beings are held hostage by egos. A false sense of self that forms their identity. Each and every human being thinks of themselves in terms that define who they are. Some think they are smarter, more courageous, more successful, more beautiful, or strong. Some human beings lack self esteem. They think of themselves as not worthy, stupid, ugly, or fearful. In order to identify yourself as any of those things, people judge you and tell you that. You accept (or reject) that opinion or judgment as reliable and true. Often as a child, you believe those judgments. You cling to that belief and accept it as true. You began to form an opinion or ego about who you were just as soon as the first people in your life started rendering their judgments. You began to judge yourself based on the judgments of others. That is the baggage you carry. Perhaps for life.

Judgments are assumptions and opinions rendered by the outside world, family and peers, about who and what you are. They are possibly correct, or incorrect, just opinions and assumptions. That's it. Hardly concrete and certainly not divinely inspired or delivered.

Do you need proof of how illogical and insane our system of judging others is? In the United States, far more than half of all marriages end in divorce. If we were so good at judging others,

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