When People Don't Understand Consequences...
- Fellow Editors
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
Every day the news is filled with incidents involving people who don't understand or want to admit the consequences of their actions. We see people being fired for saying stupid, hateful things on social media, public officials being investigated for violating legal or moral norms, and, yes, people dying for thinking they can attack law enforcement with impunity.
Sometimes the consequences are temporary and merely annoyances, sometimes they are long lasting and life altering, and sometimes they are permanent, like in Minneapolis when a protester tried to run down an ICE officer with her car. Sadly, she is dead.
That incident points out the consequence of public officials such as Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar vilifying ICE officers and portraying them as NAZI's, racists, and stormtroopers. When a public official suggests that citizens attack law enforcement, some citizens will take it to heart and pay a huge personal price. The officials who encouraged them? They won't suffer any consequences at all.
There is a larger problem here.
The bigger problem is that we, as Americans, as parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, etc. have not shown our children and grandchildren that every decision one makes in life creates a consequence. Whether that consequence is good or bad, big or small, depends on the nature of the decision, the timing, and whether a decision is rational or not. Sometimes, consequences rely on good or bad luck.
Watch parents and small children in supermarkets and you will see how children are taught (or not) about consequences. When I was a child, if I screamed, cried, and threw a tantrum for my mom to buy me a toy on the aisle, I was shown that I not only wouldn't get that toy, but that I would suffer a consequence which could include immediate removal from the store. When I got home, the consequence would be banishment to my room and a stern lecture and punishment from both Mom and Dad. I learned not to embarrass my parents in public or to try to get my way with a tantrum.
Yet, I watch parent after parent in the same situation mollifying and giving into a screaming child and rewarding him/her for bad behavior.
When I taught in the public school system, consequences for students who didn't study, didn't do homework or hand in assignments on time were clear. You don't do your assignments; you get a zero on those assignments. You don't study for a test, and you can't answer questions correctly, you get a failing grade and that grade impacts your class grade negatively. Hand in late work; there's a penalty. Sometimes students overcame the deficit and passed. Sometimes they didn't and failed. It was a hard lesson for some. But it was a lesson in life and consequences.
When I moved into the adult world of working, consequences were very important. Show up late for work? Consequence. Say something that makes your company or employer look bad? Consequence. Don't turn work in on time? Pay a bill late? Ignore and violate laws? Consequence, consequence, consequence.
Now, educators try to wrap students in bubble wrap and protect them from consequences. They set arbitrary minimum grades for students so that if they don't do anything in class, they still get a 50%. Imagine coming to work, doing nothing, and getting 50% of your pay? It just doesn't happen.
Turn in late work? No problem. No negative impact. No consequence. The assignment will get all the credit it would have gotten if the student turned it in on time.
Of course, when I taught, parents (for the most part) understood these consequences. Countless numbers of parents would come in for conferences and thank me for holding their child accountable. Some of them were even more strict than I was and wanted their child to deal with a larger, more negative consequence. Most of them told me that their child needed to learn that life lesson and they would stand behind me for that.
News flash, those were parents of all races and economic backgrounds. In fact, some of the most insistent on their child learning consequences were Black, Hispanic, White working parents. They wanted their child prepared for the reality that society has certain expectations.
I see their children in the community today. Most are successful, happy adults.
On the other side were the parents who wanted their children protected from ANY consequences at all. Surprisingly, many were parents from the upper socio-economic level who were protecting their daughters. That's why it doesn't surprise me that many of the protesters getting in the faces of police and federal agents are White, liberal women. (And, sadly, many of them are from MY generation). The woman in Minneapolis seemed to think that her status as a liberal, White, female, LGBTQ woman was a protective barrier between her and terminal circumstances. It wasn't.
She also didn't seem to realize the reality of the situation and that law enforcement, while charged with protecting the community, also have the right to protect their own lives from an overt threat such as someone attempting to run them down with a vehicle.
We see this lack of awareness in our politicians and government officials and employees who think that somehow their race, gender, political party, etc. shields them from investigation, prosecution, and consequences when they steal funds or commit fraud. It is the ultimate in hubris, arrogance, and self-importance.
It usually begins small when they shift a few hundred dollars from a public account to their private needs via cash that cannot be tracked. They get away with it once and it emboldens them as they go on to bigger and more profitable theft and corruption. Sometimes the officials find allies in their corruption and are shielded by those who got special favors from them.
They think they are invincible. But, as we see, they aren't. Sooner or later, their deception and theft is discovered.
Their homes and offices get raided by state and/or federal officials. They are exposed for soliciting sex from prostitutes on the government dime. Or, they never file records of their non-profit organization and are found to be out of compliance with state and federal regulations.
Even worse is that the juvenile "justice" system in our cities, states and country allows children to commit crime without punishment. Baltimore, Maryland is a prime example. When Progressive legislators in Maryland voted to protect juveniles from consequences for crimes at all costs, they created a generation of young people who feel they are not only free from accountability but entitled to escape any legal consequence for their actions.
One former state official, the Secretary of Maryland's Department of Juvenile Services, Vincent Schiraldi, was reported as saying that young people “don’t have the capacity to determine right from wrong until age 25.”
It's clear what we are dealing with here; apologists who want to shield young people from reality. Here is a story about Schiraldi from FOX 45:
His actions had dire results for many citizens who were robbed, car jacked, beaten and even killed by out of control juveniles.
Data from the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office shows a dramatic rise in juveniles facing criminal charges:
Overall: A 208% increase in juvenile criminal charges over three years.
Car thefts & carjackings: up 158%
Robberies: up 1,347% (Yes — more than a 13‑fold increase)
These categories account for much of the surge in youth‑related cases. (From Chat GPT and WBFF Fox 45)
Young people are not stupid. As soon as they discover that being arrested means nothing and that an ankle bracelet for home arrest is more of a badge of honor among their peers than a punishment, they act accordingly. The adults who benefit from their crimes find willing accomplices who cannot be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, progressive leftists in the State General Assembly thinks this is a good thing. Their constituents continue to vote them into office, and the rest of us suffer the consequences. Occasionally, when one of these juveniles commits murder or is murdered, these leftists run to a microphone and proclaim that we need stronger laws, more gun control, etc.
And then they slink back under their protective government rock and maintain the status quo.
It's the same at the Federal level.
And now, in a situation that seems eerily like the George Floyd riots of 2020, no one seems to be willing to look at the situation clearly. A woman was encouraged to protest against ICE by following them around, impeding their work, and attempting to run an officer down with a 2000-pound weapon.
She learned the price of her actions, but too late to prevent her from dying. Even worse, members of law enforcement also have to suffer the price of her actions with injury and possible death. They suffer increased threats towards them, their safety, and the safety of their families, simply for doing their job.
It's always that way. The people who do the right thing, put themselves out there to protect others; people who know what consequences are, are adversely affected by the actions of those who don't.
This is just what the liberal Democrats, progressives, Marxists, and Communists wanted. They wanted another George Floyd/Freddie Gray moment so they could give their paid agitators a reason to go to the cities, protest, attack police, burn buildings, and commit violence. They are desperate in light of their corruption and malfeasance possibly being exposed.
And they knew that they could find people like this woman, people who had seemingly never suffered consequences for her actions and thus felt invincible, to do the dirty work of these activists. This is how terrorism, domestic or foreign, works. The leaders safely stay out of the fray and send the mentally gullible to face the dangerous consequences.
It's also the best way to protect criminals who have stolen billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars from investigation and possible prosecution.
The radical left has been waiting for their promotion of violence to create an event such as this one. They can use this to fund raise and to spread propaganda against law enforcement and, of course, the Trump Administration. It's their "George Floyd" moment where they elevate a person who was committing a crime to heroic status because that person didn't think about the deadly consequences of their actions.
If you don't believe that this is an attempt to recreate the civil unrest and damage of 2020, look at the fact that the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) is giving students the option to stay home and learn remotely through February 12 using this incident as a rationale.
While they were allegedly concerned about the safety of their children, the threats were not enough for those schools/parents to keep the kids from protesting out in the "dangerous" streets:
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
It reminds me of those principals, Superintendents, and school personnel who encouraged students to participate in BLM riots while school systems were closed for "safety" safety from COVID.
We don't justify or celebrate the death of anyone. The incident in Minneapolis is tragic for all involved.
All because some people believe (and have been taught) that there are no negative consequences for their actions.
Jan Greenhawk, Author
January 12, 2026
Jan Greenhawk is a former teacher and school system administrator for over thirty years. She has two grown children and lives with her husband in Maryland. She also spent over twenty-five years coaching/judging gymnastics and coaching women’s softball. She was a former county Teacher of the Year and one of five finalists for Maryland Teacher of the Year.
This article was originally featured on the Easton Gazette.
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