Is Anthony Weiner’s Battle Ours? (Part 3/3)

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The Internet is the most curious of resources. Everything is on it. Everything. Everything good, and everything bad. Want to see what Congress is debating? Want to donate money for clean water in third world countries? Want to buy socks? It’s all there. Want to build a bomb, place a bet, or see a live sex performance, tailored to your particular proclivities? Have at it. The Internet is like the Library of Congress and Hustler magazine all rolled into one.

The problem with that availability is, if you are a normal guy with a normal sex drive, you can satiate that drive until it’s not so normal anymore, and do it all from the comfort and perceived privacy of your own home or office. That’s like installing a full bar in a frat house. Sooner or later, there’s going to be a party. 

And that’s why men who twenty years ago never would have walked into a strip club, met a strange woman in a hotel room, or bought a copy of Playboy magazine, are now falling like flies. Not perfect men. Not Promisekeepers. Just your average guy who, all things being equal, would rather be decent.

Now those men who would have taken reasonable measures in the past to stay away from temptation’s door have temptation pouring in through the walls from every direction via an innocuous resource that is seemingly indispensable in modern culture for executing a thousand other perfectly legitimate functions. As men, some of us will hack out our path to faithfulness with fear and trembling, and some of us will succumb to our short term pleasure until the sun hits our undoing. But to be sure, almost none of us will remain unscathed. It is every man’s battle, and like it or not, we will all suffer who insist on fighting it alone. And if we try to keep it hidden, like any addiction, it will almost certainly consume us.

My dad used to tell me that when you point a finger at someone else, just keep in mind that you have three pointing back at you. That’s why we should all tread carefully on Congressman Weiner’s predicament. And what if Weiner is not on your team? Jesus said to love your enemies, and pray for them. We’ve all fallen short. Oh yes, we have. Especially in how we deal with the fallen nature of others.

If Congressman Weiner has broken any laws, he should be prosecuted. But if his worst mistakes were that he acted like a fool and then lied about it on national television, those aren’t issues of national relevance. It’s not like he lied to a grand jury. Oh no. That privilege is reserved for presidents (1).

At this point, these are personal issues should be between he and his wife alone. His constituents didn’t choose him based on promises of sexual purity. His wife did. And to beat him to death with his own shame affects not only him, but his wife as well, no matter her public reaction. She deserves better, and she alone can judge him. Who is more wronged here, his wife or the public? Their young marriage deserves another chance. The best we can do is to leave it alone. If she can give him another chance to be a better man, we can, too. He’s apologized profusely in a way that is difficult to peg as insincere or politically motivated. That should be the end of our interest. 

Let’s move along, everybody. Nothing to see here.