Accounts show high school’s reach
Many Americans are struggling to sort out the conflicting accounts from a suburban Maryland party that occurred more than three decades ago. In only a few days, the controversy has riveted Americans. It also has become a teaching moment for young people who may not understand that, a popular cliche to the contrary, life is long.
The case we’re discussing dates to the early 1980s yet reverberates today in accusations and denials. Christine Blasey Ford, now a 51-year-old college professor, says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were high school students at that party. While his friend watched, Ford says, a drunken Kavanaugh allegedly pinned her to a bed, groped her and tried to pull off her clothing. When she tried to scream, Kavanaugh put his hand over her mouth, she told The Washington Post.
Kavanaugh denies the accusation. “This is a completely false allegation,” he said in a statement. “I have never done anything like what the accuser describes — to her or to anyone.” Others vouch for Kavanaugh’s character. A letter signed by 65 women who knew Kavanaugh in high school says that he had “always treated women with decency and respect.”
The Senate has scheduled a hearing Monday so Ford and Kavanaugh can testify.
Whom do you believe? Some
Americans already have made up their minds. They may resolve ambiguities by defaulting to their political affiliations or to their pre-existing opinions of the gravity of such behavior at a young age. They may be suspicious of the timing of this allegation, which emerged days before a scheduled Senate committee vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. Or they may feel that there should be a statute of limitations on the repercussions of alleged high
school conduct that went unreported at the time. That such incidents, true or false, shouldn’t affect an important confirmation vote decades later.
Such rushes to judgment are premature. Within days, all of us likely will learn information that helps us decide whom to believe.
So far this is certain: Ford has shown courage by stepping into the national spotlight. Her life will never be the same. Nor will Kavanaugh’s. Whether or not he
is confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, this case, this moment, shows the profound reach and power of a #MeToo allegation. Other powerful business leaders, politicians and, yes, journalists already have learned that.
Sure, we realize that everyone who has ever attended high school probably did something to regret. Often somethings. And we know that many Americans, now well beyond high school, may have thought that their conduct back then was sealed and irretrievable. Even if questionable behavior came to light, no one would care. These people, now adult men and women, may have believed that what they did in their youth — for good or ill — would not trail them into adulthood.
Wrong.
Today, in the era of Facebook and Twitter and sexting, adolescents can’t too strenuously
be warned to be careful. What you post, what you tweet, what you text, what you do, can hurt you — with future employers, future voters, future significant others, even future senators who decide if you’re fit for the federal bench. Even if you don’t post or tweet or text, your poor decisions — perhaps involving alcohol and drugs — often don’t stay buried. They can emerge in job interviews, political campaigns, background checks for volunteer positions and many other circumstances.
That’s a message young people — boys and girls — can’t hear often enough from parents, teachers, coaches and other adults who care.
The Kavanaugh case will be resolved soon. Whatever happens, there’s no statute of limitations on the lesson here: Before, during and after high school, personal conduct, wise and otherwise, reveals character. It matters as much if not more than any report card, college recommendation or award. The repercussions of our actions can reflect upon us gloriously, or haunt us mercilessly, throughout our lives.
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