More than meets the eye

A few days ago I bumped into this job vacancy being advertised, and part of the requirements is a certificate of good conduct. Being somewhat interested in the job, I decided to hunt for the famous certificate.

So I go down to the police station, and after some hoolabaloo, I finally get to the process of getting the thing - all the fingerprints done, the handprint, the blah blah blah. As it was all going on, the cops tried to be engaging and started asking me questions: why am I getting the certificate, where am I getting the certificate, and all that rat-a-tat that goes with it. Somewhere along the talk, the guy taking my fingerprints uttered "Everything nowadays needs a certificate of good conduct. Even marriage. How can your spouse trust you if you don't have a certificate of good conduct?" OK, the whole thing was supposed to be funny (and it was), but left a big "Hmmm" on my mind.

Seems like things aren't what they seem. A person looking all sweet and innocent may not be the sweet innocent thing their countenance proclaims. To get to asking for a certificate to show you're trustworthy is really going over the edge. Things have become really bad. Gone are the days when people were just sweet and noble. But are those certs genuine. So if I get the certificate, does that mean that I'm all that? Doesn't that only mean that I don't have a bad record with the authorities?

Oh well, some things are not as simple as they look. There really is more than meets the eye, in this twenty-first century.