Thanks, Mr. Weiner

We should be grateful for the Anthony Weiners of this world. They give us something to talk about. Comedians should actually be sending him royalties. Are we having fun yet?

Then there are those of us who are shocked, shaking our heads. Disgusting! How can this be? How can this slug have the audacity to present himself for public office? Here’s where we get to feel just a little superior. We’d never do anything like what he did.

Look -- of course he should know better than to seriously present himself for office with that kind of an admission.  But can’t we take a minute to feel sad for the waste of an otherwise talented individual who has been and might again have been an effective legislator, were it not for his little problem? This would be especially true if you’re a Democrat.

Remember that this isn’t the first public official to be in this kind of boat, though maybe this is the 21^st century version of it. We allow sexual peccadilloes up to a point, but we are not a forgiving lot when it comes to this stuff, especially if it goes over the kink line.

Here’s the really hard one: Can we take another minute to say to ourselves, “There, but for the grace of God (or whatever force you choose) go I?” And be grateful, for just one nanosecond, that we are not subject to Anthony Weiner’s particular brand of compulsion?

Or at least be grateful that whatever compulsion we are subject to, it’s a socially acceptable one?

Just wondering…

Patterns

I’d like to join in expressing shock and shaking my head at the revelations about New York Congressman Anthony Wiener’s sexual tweets, but frankly, I’m exhausted. Let’s see, there’s our ex-governor, there’s John Edwards, Tiger, the IMF guy – I’ll let you finish the list. The sad part of these stories, of course, is the damage, not just to the villain du jour, his family and to potential victims, but to our faith in those presumed to be leaders and role-models among us – how many more hits can that faith take?

More often than not, the volcano of publicity erupts following an event that is simply a pattern, perhaps a longstanding one, coming to the surface – and we all have patterns. It doesn’t have to be sexual. It could be about drinking, eating, shopping, gambling or playing videogames. It starts out as a predilection, then becomes a pattern. If we lose control of the pattern and it gets destructive, we call it addiction. What follows are unbelievable lapses of judgment, lies, and the betrayal of those we love. It’s just very easy to say, “How could he…?”(or she) when that isn’t one of our own patterns. There are as many strokes as there are folks.

Congressman Weiner’s resignation is the right course, simply because no one will take him seriously again for a very, very long time. But I wonder: if his problem had been alcoholism, a potentially more debilitating and destructive addiction, would we have been more forgiving?

Before we play the “ain’t it awful” game, maybe we should reflect on our own performance at dealing with patterns. For starters, how about our insatiable appetite for every last sordid detail of these stories, served to us by cable TV reporters breathlessly expressing shock and amazement. They should be sending thank-you notes to these perpetrators, maybe with an expensive bottle of wine. They know very well how much we out here in the audience love train wrecks.