From the womb to being legally of age, we are subject to the will and perspectives of an adult world. Most kids are capable of being the judge and jury by the time they are five. Reasoning can only be practiced by those brave enough to suppress the addictive need to be right in favor of finding the truth. Everyone wants another chance to feel the safeness of innocence by releasing the heavy burdens of rightness. Giving up the skilled adaptation of judging, beyond true survival needs, for the daily monotony of allowing things to just be whatever they are, could create a peace of mind that defies medication.

It seems a sick joke that we play on our children, teaching them our perceptions as truth, then expecting them to grow up defending those perceptions. On the other hand, they may have an automatic need to do what we do? We quickly find out that kids seem to naturally ask hard, personal inquiries leading to complicated moral concepts and connection dynamics starting with “why” questions like:

• “Why do I have to mind you?”
• “Why are you mad?”

We could almost call what we do instinctive because we unconsciously seek answers the easy way.  Humans are expected to be curious,  and judging has its own ways of answering the need to justify a lack of understanding. We don’t like being judged, unless it’s done by people we trust, either way, we do expect it. In a way, being judged gives us a twisted sense of permission to judge everything including ourselves.

Answering our own questions with judgments and justifications, robs us of the quest we miss out on and the thrill of discovery in unlocking the secrets behind true mystery. There may be few harsher punishments than to be rightfully judged,  or more exceptional honor bestowed for being proven right. There just might be safety in being right, when it’s real and certainly the social aspect of being respected is worth its weight in gold and in that setting perhaps a bit of personal satisfaction rightly goes with feeling justified.