When good people do bad things they usually have convinced themselves it’s not bad. One of the most common justifications is that “I had to do it.” That the stakes were so high it was necessary. This rationalization is a form of the idea that “the end justifies the means” and is at the root of every cover-up from Watergate to the Iran/Contra arms deals, the Catholic Church scandals, and perhaps, to the current Penn State scandal. The truth is,in the world of ethics, our personal necessities do not provide exemptions from core moral principles. What’s more, as Nietzsche said, “necessity is not a fact, it’s an interpretation.”