All men (and women) are flawed. We are all subject to mistakes and bad judgement. While many of try hard to retain our honor, we will have times where we fail in some way.
But, we place some men and women in positions of public trust, and we hold them to a higher standard. A case in point -
You happen to be at the scene of a crime. You're an on-looker only. You don't know the victim, nor any of the Police Officers. But, what you do see, is one of the Police "pocket" an expensive wrist watch, and walk away. You weren't the only one who saw it, and later on, the Police Department was asked about the Officer's actions. The Dept. stuck by the Officer, because the Officer said he didn't take anything.
No long after, that same Officer had gone back to the store, and returned the watch, and asked the store owner to keep it under his hat.
That didn't happen. In stead, the word got out, and the Dept. and the Officer were pressured into coming clean during a new press conference, but stating that the watch was returned, and it was a mistake that was fixed. Asking forgiveness, the Officer kept his job.
Months later, you were called for jury duty. During the trial, the same Officer you had seen steal the watch, sat down to testify, after taking an oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. In your mind, you know that the Office also took an oath when he was sworn into duty. And he lied. Will he lie now? Can you believe all that he testifies to?
This is why Officers get let go (if not criminally charged) for such acts. Their word....their oath...is no longer worth anything. They lied, and that demeaned the public trust. and don't we want to hold them to a higher standard? Isn't that reasonable? I expected that when I was behind a badge.
So shouldn't we expect to hold those in public trust, to a higher standard? In the current news, New York Representative Anthony Weiner, had been sexting sleazy pictures of himself. He sent them to women he says he didn't know. (Hope none of them were juveniles. That could be a whole new issue!) Then, he lied, on the air, in front of all of us, and even demeaned those who were making the accusations and asking the questions. Deny....deny...deny.
Then, the indisputable truth comes out, and it was all a bad mistake. He's sorry and confesses his wrong doing. But he wants the people to keep him in office.
Can Weiner EVER be trust again? Will we even REALLY know of what he will do or say?
He should resign. If he doesn't resign, he should be impeached and removed from office. And with that, we should EXPECT the higher standard from those placed into public trust.
Oh, and for those who say it is a largely private matter between him and his family? Wrong. If it were private, we wouldn't have know about it. The moment he sexted to a stranger, an unknown (to him) woman, then it was no longer private. HE made it public.
Weiner ... Time to go back home and call it a career.
