I get the idea that there are people who feel I am too judgmental, that I sit around with a list of standards against which I measure all activity that catches my eye. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone could look at me and tell I do not have any standards at all. In their absence, I merely hold people up to their own standards, a tactic that causes me no end of trouble.

On the other hand, I have suddenly become enamored of Judge Judy, who is judgmental in the extreme. I do not seek to emulate, but I am in awe. In the face of her hostile analysis, no lie can prevail, no responsibility can be shirked. She is Justice with a baseball bat.

Why, then, do I get the sense that, underneath that severe black robe with the dainty lace collar, she, like everyone else who casts him- or herself in the role of punisher, is desperately unhappy?

I am a happy person, and I am going to stay that way.