Telling Right From Wrong (Apparently That’s Optional Now)

I must be old.
Or at least from a time when “right and wrong” weren’t just flavor options on the political smoothie menu.

When I was growing up, we were taught to respect our elders—even when they were wrong, confusing, or smelled like mothballs and Bengay. We learned the Ten Commandments alongside “The Golden Rule,” and nobody rolled their eyes when you mentioned either. (Well, maybe we rolled them internally.)

Yes, I grew up Catholic. I went to Sunday School, sang in the choir at my Catholic elementary school, had my knuckles smacked by a nun with a ruler and understood the Mass in Latin before I knew how to ask where the bathroom was in English. And yes, I sometimes skipped Mass—lured away by my brothers and the promise of cartoons and candy. Was it wrong to spend the dollar Mom gave us for the offering plate on a movie ticket and a candy bar?
Maybe. Probably. Definitely.
But hey—we were under ten. The moral compass was still in beta testing.

We got caught. We took our punishment—Catholic guilt and all—and we didn’t try that stunt again. Lesson learned: lying comes with a side of consequences. Usually grounded ones.

Fast-forward a few decades, and my kids were shocked—shocked, I tell you!—when we caught them in a lie. As if parents were born old and boring and didn’t once sneak out the window or lie about breaking the lamp. But they learned, hopefully, that honesty matters. That kindness matters. That “do unto others” is more than a catchy slogan—it’s how society doesn’t completely implode.

I must be old.
Because I remember when being Catholic—and being a public servant—meant something. When the people in charge acted with integrity, not just with a PR team and a half-baked PowerPoint. When leaders weren’t trying to gaslight an entire county with innuendo, selective facts, and a cherry-picked morality, they wouldn’t apply to themselves if you paid them in campaign donations.

It makes me sad—and more than a little furious—to watch our current Board of Supervisors march in lockstep to the 2025 playbook, flipping pages like they’re auditioning for the role of “Most Disingenuous.” Guess what? You got the part.

But here’s the kicker: no one really wins this game.
Except maybe the attorneys. And whoever sold the BOS those half-thought-out ideas they’ve been promoting.

The rest of us? We get to live with their choices—poor ones, self-serving ones, and downright dishonest ones—for years to come. Hooray.

So maybe it’s time the County got out the strap. (Metaphorically, of course. We’re not savages.)

Just a little old-school accountability. You know—what used to pass for leadership before it became a reality show.

Sue Laurence
Front Royal, VA

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