Last Thursday, the news broke that Barry Bonds, slugger for the San Francisco Giants, said he had unknowingly used steroids. Bonds thought his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was giving him nutritional supplements, and apparently Bonds took them without question. According to an online poll by ESPN, only 85 percent of people buy that.

All of this doesn't come as too much of a surprise. The steroid question has been circulating around Bonds for a while, and many people had made up their minds as to whether he was juicing or not. Still, you can't help but feel a sort of tragic regret about the whole situation.

Baseball is America's pastime. Football and basketball are both great games -- personally, I am more of football man myself -- but they lack the history, the mystique and the aura of baseball. For decades, baseball was a staple of American life, because no matter how bad things got, baseball was there to help America get through it. Now it seems as if the game has lost much of what was left of its innocence.

Some would say that the "innocent" days of baseball were already long gone, or never actually existed at all. After all, there has always been corruption in sports, and this isn't the first time that players have been caught using steroids or engaging in other illicit activities. But Bonds is the best player in the game in many people's eyes. He will almost definitely break Hank Aaron's home run record -- arguably the most coveted prize in all of sports. One would have hoped that a player of that caliber was above the use of steroids. This incident will have an impact outside of the baseball world too. After all, baseball is a part of American culture. It is as much a part of what it means to be American as apple pie, cheeseburgers, New York City and maybe even democracy itself. OK, maybe it's not as important as democracy, but you get my point.

Politicians aren't turning a blind eye to this issue. U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has threatened to introduce legislation into Congress that would address the steroid issue in baseball if the league doesn't deal with the problem by January. Does that shock anyone else, because it sure does shock me. Did you ever think that you would hear a respected U. S. senator bring baseball onto the floor of the Congress? It all seems so crazy, and that is because it is indicative of another larger problem that we have in this country. The problem is with where our priorities lie. We are all about style over substance, quantity over quality. We want results, and the ends justify the means. Bonds is hitting home runs, so who cares about how he is doing it, right? He is bringing in the money.

The same attitude is prevalent in our popular music. Does it matter that rap or pop has degenerated into the same boring beats and empty lyrics played over and over again? People will continue to gobble up whatever they are spoon-fed by MTV. It isn't a problem that stores like Abercrombie or American Eagle keep putting out tons of overpriced and downright ugly clothes made with shoddy craftsmanship, is it? They make you look cool. It is all about what sells.

Integrity and personal responsibility get thrown to the wayside in all but the most extreme cases. And the result is an entire generation that will grow up with skewed morals and a poor work ethic. After all, why work hard for something when you can take drugs to make it easier?

Why respect other people when pop music is filled with disrespect for blacks, whites, women, gays, police, parents, sex and even one's own body? Is this really the message that we want to be sending to our kids, and even ourselves? You don't see a problem with this?

Then consider what will happen the next time our culture has to experience adversity. I mean true adversity -- war, a depression or a huge disaster of one form or another. Do you really think that we will be able to handle it? Sometimes, I really don't think so.

Pretty much everything our generation has our grandparents gave to us. It is hard to appreciate how valuable something is when you were handed it, and you're not as likely to hold on tight to something if you didn't have to work hard to get it in the first place. And whose fault is it? Is it the fault of the individuals like Bonds who perpetuate the quantity over quality attitude? Not really, because they are just trying to be as successful as possible. Is it the corporations who sponsor them? No. Again, they are just trying to compete. So is it our fault for buying into it? Well, you really can't blame us when we are just trying to be entertained.

When you come down to it no one person or entity is responsible. It is problem with society as a whole, and no one person or group is going to fix that problem. It will only end when we all take a step back, look at ourselves and get our priorities straight -- priorities like a strong family, a stronger sense of integrity and a better work ethic.

But maybe I am behind the times, or too sensitive about these sorts of issues. Maybe I have my priorities mixed up. If that is the case then you can disregard everything I have said this semester. If you agree with me then go make a difference. Opinions are good, but actions are what really matter.