Douchebag Driver of the Day Award and Deeper Thoughts on Cheating

It rained yesterday on my communte and that, of course, caused the traffic to snarl up. The freeway backed up as we all waited to get onto I-5. While some of us were waiting patiently, I saw others darting into the carpool lane. Now this didn't bother because I've been there. I've used, and been caught using (go TixNix), the carpool lane.

Now what bothers me are the guys who waited until the last minute and jammed from the left lane into mine. Now that bothers me. The Douchebag Driver of the Day Award goes to the silver Corvette that cut in front of the nice, patient people who had been waiting in line for the last several minutes.

This one really upset me. I called JeffyT almost crying. I couldn't believe the gall this ass had. I thought "Wow, cheaters really do win in the end."

That got me thinking. Do cheaters really win? I see people getting ahead by cheating all the time and it really ticks me off. Look at the financial industry, the banks and brokerages who damned near bankrupted this country. Not a darn thing happened to them or the people who ran the companies. Most of them still saw over six figure incomes. Players who use steroids in professional baseball, college coaches who have others take exams for their star athletes, high school students who cheat on the SATs, scientists who fake the results of their research...nothing seems to happen to them.

I grew up with pretty strict values and knew right from wrong but things were different in the 70's. There wasn't the media proliferation or exposure you have now. How do I teach Tucker to do the right thing when so many out there don't play by the rules?

Being a parent holds a lot of responsibility. I thought the naming process was tough but the idea of trying to teach Tucker certain values, scares me. He is going to see that people cheat and win all the time. He will then regret what his mommy and daddy taught him and then cheat. He will get caught, get in trouble and then lament over why he's always the won who get the short end of the stick. Worse, he will cheat and not get caught and go onto a life of crime and serial killing. There is a delicate balance that I'm really scared of here.

Any thoughts?

Tales from the Tapletts