The Edwards Scandal

What happens to people when, for reasons we common people cannot seem to understand, they forget they are high-visibility personalities? What happens to people when they, for whatever reasons they feel are more important than how they are portrayed in the media, step out there and forget they have huge obligations to other people who depend upon them? Not only do we the taxpaying American citizen depend upon people who hold these positions, they have families--children, wives/husbands, mothers, fathers, and siblings--who stand to be hurt by their selfish behaviors.

Don't get me wrong. I am highly aware that we are only mere men (that also will cover women or any variety of the two); that we will and must make mistakes. We should learn to forgive them of those mistakes. However, forgiving is not forgetting (I know; sounds like a Love Story line, doesn't it?). They must still take responsibility for their misbehavior. Whatever it is they may have done, they have caused great damage to someone else--on both sides of the issue. The regular man who commits such inconsiderate acts against those they say they love (as well as to themselves), hurts a significant number of people. But, the person whose deeds and misdeeds are witnessed by the throngs of people who look on, hurts more souls than they could number at a moment's counting. How can this keep happening?

It keeps happening because, somehow, when we feel a need, we do not stop an instant to consider the repercussions which might result from our satisfying that need. I must say--after pondering the latest headlining indiscretion of Senator John Edwards with his speechwriter, Rielle Hunter--that Senator Edwards did not think. Had he, I do not believe he would have so disrespected his trusting wife, Elizabeth, nor the memories of the life the two have shared, the losses incurred (as with their teenage son many years ago), the trials they've surmounted (as with Elizabeth's struggles with cancer, past, present, and future), nor the joys they have received from the twins, years after the death of their son, who came into their lives and filled the empty void parents have when losing a beloved child. The Edwards had history upon which their marriage was based. John did not think!

No matter why he had an affair, he was first and foremost, unfair to the love and life he and Elizabeth shared and unfaithful to the vows exchanged between the two of them. I, personally, am not an individual who relishes the role of judge, jury, and executor. Therefore, I want it known right here that my purpose for even initiating conversation/comments on this topic is to better understand the whats, the whos, the whys, and how to give those who might find themselves here in the future an incentive not to go through with it (or, at the very least, give them pause for thought before committing an irrevocable act). While Edwards is the latest political figure to be in the news for committing adulterous acts, we all know he's not the first...nor will he be the last, I regret to say. Mr. Edwards, may I suggest you be accountable?

According to Mr. Edwards, his affair with Ms. Hunter was in 2006 at a time when his wife, Elizabeth's, cancer was in remission. I don't understand what that really means in his own mind. For me, it makes what he did make even less sense. Seems to me, when her cancer had gone into remission, Mrs. Edwards should have physically felt more like enjoying the company and attentions of her loving husband while her cancer was no longer a factor preventing them the enjoyment of each other; it was no longer a prominent restriction on Mrs. Edwards' energy being used elsewhere for life-saving purposes like fighting for her survival. So, why after the threat had passed did you decide to become a major news story, Senator? Obviously, Mr. Edwards is not as loving a husband, nor as bright a man, as one would have originally thought--considering the glowing praises wife Elizabeth had sang not long ago on Good Morning America. I so respected him for his unwavering support of his wife and her fight with such a powerful opponent.

On the political front, I do not think Senator Edwards could have chosen a more inopportune time than right now to have his little dalliance become headline news. With the myriad array of issues facing the American people, there is little enough time to focus upon the issues and the platforms of the presidential candidates as they relate to those issues. The last thing we need to have thrust upon the political landscape of this election year is anything which might detract from the seriousness of where we find ourselves on economics, national security, employment, immigration, or international competitiveness (just to name a few from the burgeoning list of things which pose real spirit-defying threats us here at home). He could have done nothing else which would stand to divide his already divided party, could he? Nor, could he have done anything even remotely more satisfying for his party's opposition, and thus to take our minds off the more important things to our great society. It is so detrimental that this election we get it right! We as a nation have so much more to lose than a presidential race. Senator, what could you have been thinking?

What about you out there? Let's put it on the table! What do you say? I'm listening...