Zach Nebben

In these times, nothing is permanent. I’m going to say it again for dramatic purposes: Nothing is permanent. Nobody is forced to stick with any decision they make.

You can have a tattoo removed. You are encouraged to repent for your sins. Abortion cures pregnancy. People can remain forever anonymous on the Internet so they never have to be held accountable for what they say. There is a pill you can take after a night of drinking when you decide that tomorrow’s hangover won’t be worth tonight’s debauchery. White lies are commonplace.

None of those things are bad in their entirety. It is the accountability for those things that I have issues with.

Convicted murderers can change their minds. We’ve all heard it at some point: “I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t want to. It was an accident.” Even if clear guilt and intent have been established, they can change their minds. Sure, they may be proven guilty, but they changed their mind about what they have already done.

The only permanent decision a person has left to make and have no opportunity to change his or her mind about is suicide. Now, before everyone flies off the deep end at me, let me say that I only advocate taking one’s own life strictly in the utmost Darwinian of circumstances.

I said in the beginning that nothing is permanent. And some days, I take some comfort in that. I believe someone once said “A dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.”

Notice I said some days. The rest of the days, I wonder what half-truths and whole lies are flying past me as the time trickles by. I have reached a point where I don’t know who I can trust to listen to.

Once again, before the hate mail pours in, allow me to say that I am, by no means, claiming to be the most honest man on the block. Quite often, I’m just as guilty as the next guy. But I have improved.

In recent years, I have made a commitment to myself not to lie about the things that don’t matter, and to do my best to not lie about the things that do. I have decided that when I make a decision, I am going to stand behind it 100 percent. That doesn’t mean that I won’t admit when I’m wrong. It means that I will admit that I took an incorrect stance on a subject, instead of trying to reword my position to make myself sound ‘less wrong.’

If you think that there is a shred of truth to anything that I have said, then please, take the time to think about what you do as a person. If you tell someone that you will call them next weekend, call them. If you broke your neighbor’s lawn gnome, let them know about it. If you get drunk and have “Bubba” tattooed on your cheek … go ahead and get it fixed. But don’t lie about it when your buddies ask who “Barbara” is. If you make a decision, stand behind it and accept the consequences, good or bad. You’ll be doing us all, including yourself, a favor.

#1.883983:1899735443.jpg:Nebben, Zach (thinker).jpg:Zach Nebben, Call me Crazy: