I'm not always the best at keeping up to date with politics and current events, so I didn't hear about the accusations that came out against US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until someone else told me. Kavanuagh was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the 80s, when he would have been in high school. Kavanuagh categorically denied all of these accusations.

The thing is, it's realistically almost impossible to know for certain whether these events actually occurred. In many cases like this, it can be person's word against another. And personally I don't think anyone should be imprisoned based on an accusation without solid proof.

But we're not talking about prison, we're talking about whether or not this man should be considered to hold one of the country's most powerful and important positions.

Most of the arguments in Kavanaugh's favor are that the timing is suspicious, and it is unfair to disqualify a man from this position based on an unproven accusation. Others may question why the woman who accused him, Christine Blasey Ford, didn't report the attempted rape much earlier. If it happened in high school, she had a lot of time to speak up about it, didn't she?

Putting aside the political stance, it's not always that simple. Sometimes I've thought about what I would do if something like this ever happened to me. In my mind, I would go to the police immediately, report the person who did it, etc. But in actuality I know that if something like this ever happened, I can't really predict how I would react. Unless something like this has happened to you, you can't really know what it's like. Some people may report it the same day it happens, but others may wait 10, 20, or even 30 years until they feel ready to. That's the reality.

Part of Kavanugh's defense was a letter released by 65 women defending Kavanuaugh and his character, saying he was a good person.

I had a teacher in high school who almost everyone I knew really liked and looked up to. I'm sure any of the hundreds of students he had during his career would have said he was a wonderful person. I spent many days after school attending a club he ran to support students who needed someone to talk to. On the last day of senior year, me and my friends spent time in his classroom goofing off.

When it came out last year that he was in jail for sexually assaulting a student several years back, it taught me that you often can't really know a person. Just because someone is nice to you and respects you and everyone you know doesn't mean that they aren't capable of hurting somebody else.

The point is that we can't really use the fact that Ford didn't report this event when it happened, or other women defending Cavanugh, as proof that she's lying, just like we can't use her accusation as proof that Kavanaugh 100% committed the act.

Of course it's possible that Ford is entirely innocent. Although false rape accusations actually aren't common, they still exist.

There are many people on both sides of the argument over whether Kavanaugh is innocent or not, both of which have good points. The issue is not necessarily the case itself, but the assumptions we make about people who choose to come forward later, or those who make accusations against people who are powerful and well-liked.