I Did it Again!

I don't think we can get through life without making all kinds of false judgements: about people, every day events, religion, politics and even during our conscious stream of thought.

We were sitting on the deck of our small yacht club the other evening. I had just finished a pork loin on the BBQ and we were enjoying it with a fresh salad. It was a quiet evening and no one else was  around the club. Actually, we thought this was rather unique as it was a beautiful summer evening on the shores of Lake Ontario. Our club is situated, just below the majestic Scarborough Bluffs, in the City of Toronto. Be that as it may.

Suddenly I saw a young girl running along the dock. She was followed by two adults - possibly the father and mother. My first thought was - why is that small child, running on a long dock, not wearing a life jacket?

WHAT WAS I THINKING???

Eventually, they stepped off the dock and came up onto the gravel spit close to where we were enjoying our late dinner. As they walked past the deck, the gentleman placed an empty beer bottle on the edge of the lawn and then looked, I thought definitely, at us. Immediately, I judged that he had been drinking, the beer bottle was empty so he disposed of it  on the edge of our lawn!

What the hell, I thought, what a nerve sticking his garbage on the edge of our lawn. I almost spoke to him as he went by, but I let it pass as they disappeared from sight. I discussed the situation with my wife and expressed my dissatisfaction with his behaviour. Why would he dump his garbage right in front of us?

The next morning I returned to the empty bottle with the intention of dumping it in the garbage dumpster. When I picked up the bottle it was evident it had been on the ground for some time. The evening visitor was cleaning up and politely put the bottle where he knew it would eventually end up in the proper place. My judgement of his  action was absolutely false.

There Has to be Some Truth Here!

But why did I make such a mistake? Obviously, I based my opinion on what I observed and within the context of that moment.  Earlier, we had been discussing why some club members don't seem to understand the meaning of our self-help club. For our club to be affordable to the average person we are able to keep costs down by looking after ourselves....well in theory anyway? Since we don't hire staff we depend on the members to do the work and treat the club environment as they would their own home. At least enough members accept that philosophy, and we get by very well. For the rest..that's another story.

Into this environmentt comes the man with the beer bottle. I jumped immediately to the conclusion  that he was provoking us with his bad attitude! I believed something was true in spite of the absence of any proof or any evidence to the contrary. The next morning I realized, as I examined the beer bottle, that I had done it again..made a judgment within a given context minus any evidence. How often do we do this in life and sometimes even get emotionally upset for the wrong reasons?

I am sure the epistemologists and psychologists have many explanations as to why we do this or that. Probably some explanations  are true in some circumstances and others in different situations. However, I thought I had learned over the years to withhold judgement until all the evidence was in...or at least I thought I had learned that lesson!

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week