Shame?

I heard a woman on the radio today or yesterday. She said, if she were a member of today's Congress, she'd "be ashamed." Well, I certainly would, too, just as I am pretty much loathe to identify myself as a former public school teacher.

But, as I think I took too long to recognize, this woman misses the point entirely. None of these people, in fact, likely very few people anywhere, are "ashamed" of anything. There is no "shame." Where does this come from, this lack of shame?

I know we're not supposed to blame anyone for anything any more. "Let's move on." "Let's get beyond that." "Let's not affix blame." So, if nobody is accountable for what they do, why would there be any shame? Of course, much of this crap started in the schools, yep. How many times would one hear, "Oh, let's not blame anyone" for yet another stupid, costly decision, policy, program? Certainly not...then some people might not get to make decisions any more.

Maybe it started in the '90s, when we had a President who, by all past sense of values, should have been starkly ashamed of his behavior with an unpaid intern, his rollicking sexual escapades while married splattered all over the media. But, no, there he was as large as day, bravado no false in that man. And the American people, rather than be shocked and ashamed that their office of the Presidency (which many Presidents, our best, from Washington to Eisenhower, did their best to prevent) was dragged through the mud, excused the behavior. "The economy is good." "It's a private matter." "They all did it" (which shows our woeful ignorance of history, because "they," meaning Presidents, didn't "all" do "it," meaning cheat on their wives, have affairs, etc.).

Let's toss in our corporate leaders, who drove companies into the ground, bankrupting them, costing thousands their jobs, their pensions, etc., while taking millions of dollars in bonuses. Nope, no shame in that.

How about our professional athletes, hippy rock stars, and Hollywood-types? Caught using drugs, another sexpot of the day, go to jail, beat women--you name it. What do we do? "Build a jail in the end zone!" Make the rankest sex shows on TV the highest rated--every week a different character is in bed with yet a different character. Yet, we not only don't protest; we gobble it up.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars; the fault is with us.