Whether due to the 24-hour news cycle or perhaps even the potent combination of apathy and caffeine that plagues most college students, you’ve probably already forgotten much of what happened last year. But even if you don’t remember much, you still learned a lot.
  We learned that if you wear a horse mask and fake a seizure it’s called the Harlem Shake. We learned that having a healthy social life requires a front-facing camera. Robin Thicke taught all of us who wear glasses that blurred lines are OK. And just when that Netflix guilt was beginning to set in, Vine taught us a new way to waste our lives away six seconds at a time.  
  Be all that as it may, there is at least one important lesson that it would do all of us well to learn. Everyone is human.
  Our culture likes to make people larger than life. But in reality, no one is beyond the burden of fallibility all must bear. We’re all just imperfect people who try to make our way in the world, but when we hold others to impossible standards, we set ourselves —and the people we idolize — up for failure.
  Held up as a role model for young girls and an example of how to deal with the pressures of stardom, Miley Cyrus took a literal wrecking ball to the facade that was her girl-next-door, “aw shucks” image. While her actions were hardly the most outrageous in pop culture, they were in conflict with the expectations of her audience. Our society has made it the norm to be personally offended by those in popular culture who betray the image or characteristics we project upon them.
  But Miley wasn’t alone in 2013. Lance Armstrong, the cancer defeating, seven consecutive Tour de France winning juggernaut, admitted that performing seemingly super-human feats required some super-human measures — namely performance enhancing drugs. Paula Deen, the affable and seemingly down-to-earth television personality revealed that beyond a personality and a love for butter, she also has a past — one that includes some rather questionable incidents relating to race.
  The list goes on: Manti Te’o had a fake girlfriend, Reese Witherspoon was arrested and Amanda Bynes took a dive off the deep end, etc.
  We act surprised that people make mistakes, and whether it’s some sort of morbid desire to relish the failures of others or a priggish instinct in our culture, it is undoubtedly unfair and unproductive.
  Further, government and political failures should be no more surprising. Because someone holds an office of high distinction does not necessarily make him or her a person of high distinction. Congressman Anthony Weiner sexted, Mayor Rob Ford and Congressman Trey Radel had drug scandals and Mayor Bob Filner was convicted of felony false imprisonment.
  The IRS targeted conservative groups, the NSA spies on us all, the Department of Justice tapped phones of journalists and a much-hyped healthcare website crashed. Shocking? No. Par for the course. These institutions are made up of people just like us.
  When those in pop culture make mistakes, it affects only them or a limited number of people close to them. We should not waste our time persecuting them. But when those in politics or government make mistakes, it affects all of those they were entrusted to serve. We should hold them accountable, but we shouldn’t be shocked they are human.
  This lesson, of course, isn’t isolated to 2013. People have always been human. The sooner we learn that, the better off we’ll be.