By JACK GODBEY

I cannot think of a bigger waste of time than what social media offers. Besides the beneficial things it offers such as keeping up with family and seeing how everyone’s kids have grown, we have to scroll through tons of negative and, dare I say, stupid material. 

I was scrolling through recently and within a five-minute window, I saw people doing everything from skateboarding off the roofs of their house to blowing up various objects using gunpowder and fireworks. It seems as though common sense doesn’t exist anymore and has been traded for 15 minutes of fame in the limelight. 

I’m not sure how pleasant that limelight would be if it came packaged with a broken neck. It seems that many people don’t comprehend there are consequences for their actions whether those be good or bad. 

I admit that I have been accused of being too cautious. However, I don’t understand why anyone would find it enjoyable to go skydiving. Why would you jump out of an airplane on purpose? This is not something that makes sense to me. 

Granted, I might consider it if I was on the plane with any of the women from “The View” but barring that I don’t see it happening. 

I have seen people go bungee jumping and I have to scratch my head and wonder why? I don’t know about you, but I have never thought that tying a giant rubber band around my waist and jumping off a cliff was a good idea. Accidents happen all the time in our world. However, I don’t need to lay out the welcome mat for it.

I am amazed how people do and say things without thinking about the consequences. Criminal behavior being one of the main ones that baffle me.

Someone walks into a bank and robs it and then a week later you see them on the news crying because they are in jail. Did they think that they were going to walk in and take the money and no one would do anything about it? 

My dad always told me that you cannot do wrong and get by with it and I have found that to be very true. 

I began to reflect on this issue of people acting out without regards to the consequences and my mind instantly went back in time to an incident that happened to me when I was only a few years old that taught me a valuable lesson. 

When our family sat down for supper, we all had our reserved seats and mine was sitting in a high chair directly beside my mother. I had a plate full of mashed potatoes and was making quick work of them and then decided it would be funny to smear them all over the arm of my mother. 

She wiped her arm clean without a thought and just responded, “Quit honey.” Quitting was not in the cards however. I once again smeared the potatoes all down her arm and continued to laugh. Once again, the potatoes were wiped clean with no emotion.

Not leaving well enough alone, I again wiped the potatoes all over her arm and was laughing even harder than before. My mother, without any emotion whatsoever, calmly proceeded to reach over and wiped the potatoes all over my arm this time. This was not funny at all to me and I proceeded to cry at the top of my lungs. 

Lesson learned that we shouldn’t go around rubbing potatoes on others unless we are willing to accept the consequences of our actions.