From the second that I read the first headline, the recent college admissions scandal has captivated my attention. I read every article that I can find, and click on every minute and obscure link that I see to learn more about it. I have read opinions on everything from USC's status to the corruption of the admissions process to opinions on Olivia Jade and her family to the disenfranchisement of the middle class. Between these articles, my friends, and even random strangers in the airport, I have heard more thoughts on this scandal than I could have imagined existed!

What intrigued me was how differently everyone's opinions really are. While the news on the scandal is straightforward, people's thoughts on it are a menagerie of their upbringing, insecurities, struggles, and character. Therefore, this whole situation has become for me an interesting exercise in psychoanalysis! It has shown me just how much of someone's life is visible through the simplest of statements, and just how different everyone really is. Most importantly, I have not met anyone who has an opinion on the whole mess that is acknowledged as universally right. Everyone just thinks what they think because of who they are!

Therefore, I don't feel okay condemning anyone involved in the scandal. Just like everyone formulates an opinion that is shaped by the fraction of the world they have been exposed to, the people who paid to cheat the admissions system made that decision based on who they are. For better or for worse, our lives are all shaped by completely unique forces, and no one is perfect. We are all human, and the people implicated in this crime all faced a complex combination of pressures and challenges. This may sound insensitive toward those with a strong opinion on the case, and I do not mean that at all! I also do not mean that the people in this scandal should not be held accountable for their actions. I completely understand that the unfairness and corruption inherent in this scandal hurts people directly. I just have the unpopular opinion that even those found guilty in this case are victims in their own way. Right and wrong is not common knowledge, and in a gilded world of decadence and deception, the line between what is okay and what is not can become much more obscure.