If no one was watching..

After the recent horrors involving Penn State football and Syracuse basketball coaches and underaged children, I had a conversation with some of my friends that had a rather sour subject. With all of this stuff coming out now, who knows what else is being covered up, or isn't even known. I'm not just talking about inappropriate relations with underaged kids, but any other illegal or inappropriate actions that "adults" take part in. After talking with my buddies the question arose, "If people are doing this type of thing now, what would they or other people do if no one (the law or society) was watching?"

This is a scary thought, but something that leaves me scared for the future, my kids, my grand kids, and even people I don't even know. Growing up in a rather sheltered society where I was shielded by a lot of potentially harmful things, it is only when I see big stories like Penn St. that I am reminded of what kind of people live in our community and often go undetected. I wonder how much of this stuff is really going on, and how many people are being hurt all around us.

These type of stories (Penn St. and Syracuse) always leave me wondering if the evil in the world outweighs the good; what people would do if they knew no one was watching; and what we as a good society can do to prevent it. Unfortunately, it is hard to regulate such actions and so I have come to the conclusion that while society will do its best to educate itself about right and wrong, some things are just going to happen and are beyond our control. A scary thought, but a realistic one.