“Policies are judged by their consequences, but crusades are judged by how good they make the crusaders feel”
— Thomas Sowell
Simplified Meaning:
When we make decisions or set rules (policies), people look at the results to see if they worked well. For example, if a school introduces a new rule to improve student behavior, they will check later to see if behavior actually improved. If it did, the rule is considered successful. On the other hand, when people join big, passionate campaigns (crusades), they often focus on their feelings and enthusiasm rather than the actual outcomes. For instance, someone might join a protest to save the environment, feeling very proud and righteous. However, they might not always check if the protest led to real changes for the environment. It's important to remember that while feeling good about our actions is nice, we should also pay attention to the real-world effects of what we do. Making sure our efforts lead to positive change is just as important as the motivation behind them.
