“Everybody’s doing it” seemed like a winning argument when I was young. But my parents never gave in to such pleas no matter how desperate I was to get permission to do something they believed was unsafe or unwise.

As we get older we add excuses and rationalizations to our repertoire of arguments for having our own way: “No one will get hurt.” “It’s not illegal.” “He did it to me first.” “She won’t find out.” Behind each argument is the belief that what we want is more important than anything else.

Eventually, this faulty way of thinking becomes the basis for…