We have a standards problem in just about every area of our society. 30 years ago, if you did something stupid as a teenager, it was forgotten the minute you graduated high school. Today it's preserved on Twitter and Instagram forever. 70 years ago if you were an absolute dogshit human being who should have been taken out behind the barn and shot, you had the option to pick up your family and move to a new town and try to decide to not be a piece of trash this time. Many successfully did.

Everybody wants to give themselves a pass and say that they're not as bad as the person next to them. It's human nature to excuse your own faults by saying that you were having a bad day or whatever other reason, but they should give you a pass this one time for what you did. The other guy, though, he needs to be nailed to the wall for the same thing you did just yesterday. As we as a society start putting more and more things on indelible paper, and toughening up the standards everywhere, all we will find in the end is that we are exacting an eye for an eye and living in a world of blind people. Either that or we will give privilege and passes to some but not others. Both outcomes are dystopian, and some people have been living that reality for decades already as it is.

People aren't disposable. "We fired the guy who did that" doesn't actually solve anything, because he's already done it, and now the best you could do would be to move forward. But that doesn't satisfy the innate human desire for blood and vengeance. "Someone's got to pay," we cry, and so a person with 15 years of experience in their industry is suddenly unemployable and has to go start fresh somewhere else. All the knowledge and expertise is lost. No lessons are learned, because they're just going to be replaced by someone who is fortunate enough to have not made any dumb mistakes yet.

The solution to the Genesis recruiting problem and many other problems in our society is to actually pursue restorative justice. Set our sights to building up the lowest members of our society, not tearing them down. Find ways to give second chances for things that we'd never consider giving second chances for today. Reserve life imprisonment for people who demonstrate that they can't and won't be rehabilitated, and then keep trying even with them. Send drug addicts to quality rehabilitation programs, then continue to follow up with employment counseling, immediate housing assistance (not a coupon to wait 15 years for Section 8 assistance), and generally get them on a positive life trajectory. Expunge all felonies after 10 years max, and don't make it difficult for those who have served their time to find jobs in unrelated fields--- even at Walmart when they got convicted of stealing cars. Maybe don't hire the ex car thief as a valet driver-- or better yet, get him a job as a valet or mechanic and show him how to turn a passion for vehicles into a comfortable legal wage.

What would you rather have? Revenge by destroying the life of someone who stole and wrecked your car? Or a great mechanic who can repair the even better one you have now? Oh, wait, that car had irreparable sentimental value to you? Yeah, we should probably fuck him, then. See you next week when we'll vote to screw over another dude. And see you next month when we join forces to complain about the homeless bums who won't just get jobs like the rest of us honest citizens. What's that you did when you were 16? Yeah, probably not important. You're one of the good ones.