A friend of mine remarked today (in a private online forum), “Once you’ve walked in the shoes I walk in, live the life I live, and feel the pain I feel, then you can judge me.”

This is a common sentiment, which has inspired some powerful stories, and which inspired some involved thoughts of my own (at almost one in the morning). I gather that this anonymous quote has been floating around the Internet. There’s a lot stuffed into that single, pithy thought. I’m not sure I buy into all of it. So I felt compelled to write this short note, expounding what I think is an important truth.

I kind of exhausted myself, by accident, writing what was supposed to be an inspirational post Monday. And it indeed was inspirational, especially for the people who had been there to witness the events I described. But as for me, it was emotionally draining to write. Then, yesterday, I pulled together for BeTheStory.com a post on how to write sex scenes, which was a lot of fun to do, but way more work than I had expected. So I have little energy left over today for a long, drawn-out, opinionated, issue-oriented blog post about a topic I care deeply about. Sorry.

(Or maybe you’re thinking, Wonderful! Maybe he’ll actually write something worth reading for a change!)

However, there is one little tidbit that popped up this past weekend, while we were flipping between the NFL playoff game and one of the Star Trek movies. Every time it pops up, I feel an irresistible need to comment on it. And it’s popped up frequently enough that even my Little One understands exactly what I mean by “interpersonal utility comparison.”

So this brief rant should at least be interesting to both Star Trek fans and economics enthusiasts.