The governor and attorney general of Virginia
I find it remarkable that in this age of investigative
journalism, no one had dug this up before now.
I mean, if I wanted to get the dirt on someone, his or her college days
would be THE first place I started looking.
The late teens/early twenties—that’s when we feel invincible; when we
think we can do anything and get away with it; when our reasoning abilities
have not caught up with our capacity to imagine all sorts of stunts and our
physical wherewithal to pull it all off.
So now—belatedly, in my opinion—we have a discussion about
forgiveness. Should our past be used to
judge us in the present, even if our present is 180 degrees different? Can there not be a statute of limitations that
says the pranks and foolishness of our past, even those acts and attitudes that
are hurtful or even perceived as hateful, cannot be used against us decades in
the future? Can we agree that a single
indiscretion from our youthful days should not be used to define us forever?
Here I could launch into a diatribe against social media and
how they feed the tendency to judge harshly, especially when the critics and
accusers can hide behind online pseudonyms and do not have to come face to face
with the accused. Instead, I will point
to the financial world for an example of forgiveness and grace and second
chances: bankruptcy.
I think most people see bankruptcy as a bad thing. I’m glad.
It should be that way. Bankruptcy
should not be something that is glorified and entered into lightly. But think about it. Isn’t bankruptcy an “out” for someone who has
made some financial mistakes or maybe been overwhelmed by life circumstances,
like critical illness and accompanying large medical bills? There is a price to pay for being excused
from debts: a mark on one’s credit history that makes it harder and more
expensive to borrow. But this is light
years ahead of the debtors’ prisons of past centuries, and it’s only for a
defined period of time. After that, it
falls off the records and the person can establish a new credit history without
being judged harshly by that part of his financial past.
As a society, we in part subsidize this grace to debtors
through generally higher prices for goods and services and higher credit card
fees and interest rates, etc. I’m okay
with that, actually. I consider that capitalism at work. I can always shop around for better rates
and manage my financial affairs in such a way as to avoid the higher fees. That’s the freedom that comes with this
economic system.
I do oppose the gratuitous and frequent use of bankruptcy as
a way to avoid paying one’s creditors.
That becomes stealing at some point and should be punished, or at least
actively discouraged by the way we write the bankruptcy laws. Finding the balance between forgiveness and
accountability is not easy.
Have you ever been in bankruptcy? I hope not.
But unless you used the law to evade your creditors (and keep in mind
the distinction between “evading” taxes, which is illegal, and “avoiding”
taxes, which is legal), don’t let that episode of your financial life define
you forever. You learn from it, you
don’t repeat the mistakes that got you to that point, you plan more carefully
in the future, you live with a spending/saving plan.
Finally, if you can get yourself to the point where you
could repay the forgiven debts, give some thought to doing so. Some moral and conscientious people have done
so. But be sure to consult legal counsel
before taking such an action since it could have some legal ramifications.
Until next time,
Roger
“Remember, Lord, your
great mercy and love, for they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according
to your love remember me, for you, Lord, are good.” Psalm 25:6,7 NIV®*
*Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New
International Version® NIV®
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