Is there no Shame?

Seriously? What ever happened to shame?

It seems these days that when people behave shamefully, they puff up their chests as if to challenge the rest of us to back down in our opinions. I think that shame is a healthy response to committing shameful acts.

I'm not saying that we go back to the days of the victim being shamed into silence or inaction. I would like to see a return to the days when people who behaved badly were held accountable. Children who bullied could count on adults telling their parents . . . and their parents doling out appropriate punishment. Criminals could count on communities to keep an eye on their actions - and not trust them without the trust being earned back.

I've been reading about the child who committed suicide after being taunted by a friend on myspace only for her parents to learn that the person behind the taunts was an adult neighbor. I like that the community has pulled together to put forward a united front that this sort of behavior is unacceptable.

I can think of other countless situations where a healthy dose of shame might not be a bad thing. A friend of mine who works in another rape crisis center says that recently a pillar of her community was charged with rape and he participated in local fall festivities as if he were still an upstanding citizen. Or a cousin of mine was telling me that some of her classmates were expelled for calling in a fake bomb threat to her school . . . and the parents of the kids hired attorneys to try to force the school system to still allow them to have honor designations when they earned their high school diplomas through the local community college.

Then again, maybe this notion of social sanctioning of bad behavior is just a fairy tale kinda like the imaginary "good ol' days."