Becky Says...

September 2003

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September 10

I found out this afternoon that a college classmate of mine who went on to become an attorney was disbarred earlier this summer, after allegations against her were proved. The allegations involved misappropriation of client funds.

And I'm actually quite stunned. I wonder what in her mind was going on that made her think what she did was anything approaching correct behavior. I wonder what in her life was going on that led her to such desperate acts.

The preceeding paragraph is not meant to defend what she did. I am saying I wish I knew why.

I'm really tired of the rants of people who can only see the bad when someone has committed a crime. I learned a long, long time ago that we humans are all both saints and sinners. We carry within ourselves the ability to do both good and evil things. No one is strictly and exclusively evil, just as no one is strictly and exclusively good.

So what leads the bad side to the forefront? Some set of circumstances arises; some degree of stupidity takes control; some something happens that makes the person at that instant decide to do a wrong act.

What makes one person, in those instants of decision, act one way, while another person does the exact opposite? Or what makes a person who has followed the rules for a lifetime suddenly break them? Those questions are pretty much the core of my interest in psychology, and why I studied the subject.

The one thing of which I am convinced is what I said earlier: that we are both saints and sinners, capable of good and evil. And since that's the case, I plan to continue to acknowledge the good in people. Even when their choices and actions in certain situations make them look really bad.