Decisions and Progress; A. Evanaoff

Learning is a matter of inward readiness, a matter of something Alexander Evanoff is Professor of American Studies, Department of English, Indiana State University at Terre Haute. 612 inward feeling a recognition and a correspondence with something outside the individual. If the in ward readin'ess and preparedness based on thought and experience does not exist, the outward mani festation of thing·· or idea is not re'cognized . .Education, growth, development are a matter of inward ripeness. The more decisions an individual makes, the more· rapidly he pro gresses. It is actually dangerous to withdraw possibilities for de cision-making from the individual. Paternal action on the part of a presumably wiser entity, or gov ernment bureau, to save the in dividual entity trouble, requires the utmost probity and nicety of discrimination so as not to hinder more than help: because the blessed privilege of blundering may be more rewarding in devel1967 DECISIONS AND PROGRESS 613 opmental growth and creative function than to be deprived of the right to blunder by a ready made and imposed decision.

Individual development, prop erly conceived, hinges up,on deci.;. sion. Even a mistaken decision may result in . considerable ad vancement. The individual moves by making mistaken decisions or happy choices, as the case may be. Whenever a person's decision is made for him, he is deprived of a certain opportuni ty and, there fore, in a sense, of a certain prop erty. Whoever may have made,the decision .has robbed him, even with the best intentions in the world. A person may gain certain easements· unearned, when a deci sion is made for him, but at the same time he has been forced to forego a chance for certain self building which the process of earn ing would have accomplished for him. Decision is the vital principle of individual progress, and cannot be taken out of the individual's hands without far-reaching harm. Whoever or whatever makes a de cision for someone else, either tbrough the operation of force, prestige, faith, or prerogative, in a very real sense steals from the person for whom the decision was made.

We are in a world with just so many opportunities of choice, of right choice or wrong choice, just so many opportunities for learn ing from the results of our choices. Presumably, we are placed in this world to determine what is worth the .. choosing· and what is not worth the choosing. Each time we permit someone else to deter mine for us what is within our own choice, we have allowed some one else to dip into our pocket and to take from us a bit of prop erty that cannot .be replaced. We could not think· kindly of a friend who took property from us more precious than gold. An in dividualist could not thank any body who took away from him a legitimate and never-repeatable opportunity for progress. It will not come again. If the moment is taken away from the individual, he is that much the poorer for eternity. A man's purse may be stolen and restitution made. But if a man's opportunity for mak ing a decision is stolen, that which can never be returned to him has been taken from him.

Each decision made is a step in the individual's development. Once passed, it is gone forever. The individualist cannot thank anyone - parent, .priest, or gov ernment official-who deprives him of the opportunity to grow through the making of decisions. + MARTIN ··ANDERSON • The Federal Bulldozer has seen a lot of mileage since Dr. Ma:rtin Anderson's critical analysis· of urban renewal was first published by M:.I.T. Press in 1964. Now the book is available in a 1967 McGraw-Hill·· Paperback edition at $2.45, and also may be purchased from The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. The following article is reprinted by permission from the author's new introduction to the paperbacked edition, pertaining to developments in the urban renewal field and his experiences since first publication of The Federal Bulldozer. Martin Anderson is now Associate Professor of Business in Columbia University Graduate School of Business.