Shame...the word needs to make a comeback

I think the world needs shame again. Growing up, I distinctly remember my Nana looking into my eyes and with a voice a soupcon stronger than a whisper saying to me, "Shame on you." And I knew immediately that I had disappointed her in some way. Shame, it is something intangible, but in my growing up world it was something never to be brought into the house or onto the family. You may not have had much in the way of worldly goods, but the family name and reputation were sacro-sanct. By saying to a child, shame on you, meant that the family name had somehow been impugned. Shame, it meant something, as did family. Today, in the panti-less world of semi-stars, there is no shame. When did that happen? When did the good reputation of the family name become something inconsequential? To me the name Hilton once meant something, now it is a joke, the daughter has no shame, and the parents appear to applaud her self promotion. Where is the shame? The name Lohan conjures up a dysfunctional family that thrives on the lack of shame, as does the family name Spears. We need shame to come back into fashion. We need to be able to say to the nightly news, shame on you for entering into the world of tabloid journalism, leave that to the entertainment shows. We need to be able to say to politicians, shame on you for attacking a candidate's family. Because of the immediacy of the Internet, anyone can be made to look like a fool, one would think that because of this, people would be more cautious of what they say and do. Once something is out there, it is almost impossible to take it back. Shame is a word that connotes the mores of the time, we need it. We need to be reminded on a daily basis that although something may be legal, it may not be ethical. There is a difference. We need to applaud those who stand up and say, shame on you! Not those who continually say I did nothing illegal. I'm for bringing it back into fashion, we'll call it Retro-shame, maybe the fashionista term will give it a greater oomph.