I grew up revering Napoleon Bonaparte as my hero. I'm the kind of guy who is more than willing to serve a dictator as long as he does well at his job. I'm not afraid of tyranny because I know that trustworthy leaders will always have the best interests of their subjects at heart.
Eighteen year old kids are stupid. I was eighteen too. I was stupid. Younger-than-eighteen kids should never be allowed to think for themselves or be allowed to have any opinions other than conventional wisdom. Heck, people don't even have fully-developed brains until they're twenty-four or something. Naturally, as people get wiser, they should have more and more privileges. But those who are uneducated or still too young must be ruled with an iron fist, be told what to do, and should never be trusted with any real responsibility until they mature or learn things needed to learn.
Why were the Bulgarians in the seventies so remarkably successful in weightlifting? Because their coach, Abadjiev, plucked these athletes from poor homes, from places where these young ones could be molded the right way in the right environment under proper tutelage. It honed their minds and bodies and turned them into the legends that they are. They were never given the same luxuries and privileges as American athletes. They were bound by duty and carried their country's burden, and it made them heroes. Krastev, Boevski, Ivanov... Those guys.
Is it ever a good idea to trust your own judgement over your own Judo coach's? Or boxing coach's? Or MMA coach's? Of course not. I'd rather be a great automaton than a mediocre independent thinker. Let me be my Emperor Bonaparte's vicious bloodhound, a mindless and well-trained weapon at his disposal, just like a proper infantryman.
I'm an independent powerlifter. I think I can train myself better than most coaches. But even I trust someone else for my progress. I'm doing former Canadian weightlifting champion Doug Hepburn's training program, despite my own Google research pointing me to "experts" who think what he taught in his book was stupid. I'd say let them whine about how wrong I am. I'll smash their fucking hopes and dreams with my powerlifting numbers, crush their opinions under my heel as I win medals in the masters' division, and wipe my ass with their research papers. And I would be able to accomplish those simply because I stood on the shoulder of a giant.
I might end up having kids of my own. I hope so... I am saddened that, due to cultural norms, I can't mold them into how I want. I just wish that they would trust my guidance instead of listening to the world's idiocy. I wish things were different.
