I did a lot of dumb things when I was young.
I regret many of them. I could probably start a million columns or blog items with the age-old disclaimer: It seemed like a good idea at the time. Like blurting out an expletive while addressing our class while running for class president in high school.
Or consistently showing up late for English class, the first class after lunch, almost every day, until our teacher finally told us not to bother, and instead sent us directly to the principal's office.
As I have told my kids now for years: Do as I say, not as I did.
One of the things I am eternally grateful for is the fact that I grew up at a time when there was no Internet. In fact, it is usually one of the last things to go through my mind after my head hits the pillow every night, in those seconds before I lapse into my normal coma-like state.
Thankfully, it was a different time. Every stupid thing we did was not recorded for posterity, Tweeted for the world to see or posted on Facebook to be judged by millions.
I am guessing that might be on the mind of a young couple in Newark, Del., these days. They were captured on camera in the most intimate of actions.
Yes, they apparently were captured in full lust behind a store in the college town. I spent a fair amount of time in Newark, Del., in my youth. It's the home of the University of Delaware. Back then, it was home to something else, one of the legendary nightclubs in the region.
I spent many a night in the Stone Balloon. And yes, if you are asking, I drove home to Oxford, Pa., on many an occasion when it probably was not the wisest decision I could have made.
But none of those nights was captured on video and posted online for the world to see.
That is not the case with this young couple, who now face the possibility of being charged with "public lewdness" for their act, which apparently was done in full view of the public.
This happened in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon behind a business on Main Street, a very busy thoroughfare that forms the heart of the college town.
Of course, several folks who witnessed this exposition were not satisfied with gawking. They just had to whip out their ubiquitious smart phone (if ever there was an oxymoron, this one might be it) and record the sexual hijinks for posterity. And of course they just had to share it. Not with their friends. With the world. That's what happens when you go online.
That is the world that we live in. And the one that I work in.
Ain't life grand?
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