Unringing Bells

I  often wonder: As time goes on, are we more forgiving, or less?

There are seemingly unforgivable sins these days hat carry a life sentence in the court of public opinion, as Governor Ralph Northam is finding out in Virginia. He apologized for appearing in a photo of two figures, one in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe, from his medical school yearbook of 35 years ago. His clumsy handling of all this, first admitting it, then denying it, then saying he did go blackface on another occasion, when he dressed up like Michael Jackson for a dance contest, has all but done him in politically. To complicate matters, it’s not just him. Virginia’s attorney general, Mark Herring, admitted to blackfacing at a college party in 1980, and then there’s the lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, whose face IS black, accused of sexual assault, which he denies. Are all these men, with ostensibly solid records of public service, betrayers of public trust?

At times like this, it’s hard not to think of the Bible, and the case of Saul, who zealously persecuted Christians during the Roman Empire until he “saw the light” on the road to Damascus. Afterward, he was never the same. Not even his name, which was changed to Paul. He became the most prominent Christian of his time, and now he’s considered among the most prominent saints.

Peter, an apostle of Christ whom Jesus essentially made the first Pope, had denied knowing Jesus three times, until the rooster crowed. Jesus knew  it would happen, but Peter apparently did not suffer a loss of status. He is now known as the saint who greets us at the pearly gates if we’re good enough to take the elevator up instead of down. According to Oscar Wilde, every saint has a past and every sinner a future, but I don’t think even Peter or Paul would skate in 2019.

Maybe it’s our media culture now. When such revelations arise, even after time has passed, it’s as if the sins have been committed all over again. Whether he was in it or not, the last mental snapshot many people will have of Northam will be that old photo, no matter what he has done with his life or career since.

Please understand that I am not apologizing for nor absolving anyone of anything here. But for me, it’s a reminder that all of us, even young people, need to be careful of the bells we ring, as that sound may never fade away. The new Puritanism has arrived – or maybe the old one just never quite left.