It Wasn't Me

"he/she made me do it", "it's  not my fault", "my past is the reason", "the gang forced me"  seem to be rampant excuses for just about any crime, flaw and error that are committed.  Finding fault some other place, for doing these things, when it's a choice that a person makes and that person alone makes, even alongside others, is no excuse or reason. Constantly in the news, I read or hear someone blaming someone else or some other person, or some historical event for what they did. One woman, a mother, in a news article recently, spent the entire interview, blaming the laws, a long past event in her family, and her son's own criminal record as an excuse for the serious crime he committed. She even blamed the police with whom he had had grievous previous criminal charges. No. Her son committed a murder. He admitted that he did it, but he said that it wasn't his fault. She said it wasn't his fault. Yes, it was. He had the choice of committing a crime or not. Everyone has a past, but when we grow up, what we do is what we do. Our job as adults is to mature, to change what past troubles and grievances influenced us as children, no matter how hard they were, and to better ourselves, thus bettering our society, whatever positive group that may be. I am so tired of hearing someone moaning and groaning about some kind of past event that "made " them do what crime they did. No. You do it, you pay for it. Simple. Life is simple when you get right down to the elements. You are born, you grow, you change. You choose the direction you go into and make the necessary adjustments along the way to being someone who contributes to the rest of society. If you make the wrong choices, that's your problem and you must deal with the consequences. Laws are made to protect society from those who make choices that harm others. Laws and changes to them begin in court rooms and parliaments. They are made with a great deal of thought and many examples of why they should become law. Law makers are not those who are hired to carry them out. The policing bodies are there to do the job of protecting us according to law, and it's not an easy commitment. All authority figures are there to help others and to help bring the law-breakers to justice. And like any institution, there are those unfortunately and rarely, who stray or err in that responsibility, but not all of them should be scorned for the difficult job keeping order. They are people who do the hardest and most dangerous work there is, but they go home at the end of the day, and eat dinner with their families, just like everyone else. They must adhere to the law, also. We all have choices. Choices are like a door, a one-way door, that shuts behind us. Choice is crucial.