Thursday, June 25, 2009

Morality vs. Reality and WWJD?

He who is without sin, please, for me, cast the first stone....

I think we have come so very far only to see we have travelled absolutely no where. Mark Sanford is merely a person, who happens to be a politician--who won enough political "games" to have been elected Governor. That is ALL he is.

I have always been worried about those who take themselves too seriously. This includes those who ask WWJD--What Would Jesus Do? Is the religious right wrong in its ability to recognize the difference between morality and reality? In fact, have they been derelict in THEIR duty to read the Bible, and understand that we merely "see through a glass darkly," never really knowing God's purpose or Divine plan. Moreover, in the Bible, doesn't it say, in the Old Testament that God identified Himself as, "I Am." Doesn't this mean that He is the one who maps morality and as mere "men" we live in the reality that mistakes happen. Doesn't the Bible say we are "constantly" striving toward perfection? Has the religious right, who wants to inculpate itself within and without the definition of "Republican," "Conservative," and, " Social Conservative" forget the lessons of the Bible?

Look at Solomon and his concubines; or, Lot, and his daughters; or, Abraham and his "mistake" of having listened to Sarah which lead him to copulate with Hagar producing the nation of Ishmael--which turned out not to be a mistake at all. If these great men, and leaders of the Bible were to be cast out, we would not only have a huge chunk of the Old Testament and Torah missing, but the lessons of forgiveness, salvation and restoration would never have been written so that we could understand our reality in the face of morality.

I think we should sit back and distinguish between the psychological affect of having been hurt by a loved one; and the political effect of a sworn government official being derelict in his duties by leaving a State unattended for 5 days when the country the state is located in is presently in two wars, economically strained, and politically in turmoil. Whether, "Maria," had a great figure--or moreover, whether people are angry about the "time-line" of Governor Sanford's tan line--is immaterial. He has to answer to a much higher authority regarding his "moral" choices. Politically, he has to answer to the State.

Tyler Perry in his movie, "The Diary of an Angry Black Woman," portrays the wife of a very successful lawyer as initially helpless and vindictive when he kicks her out of "his" house and into the street. Personally, I did not like, nor could I relate to this film because as a professional, well educated woman in the same age-group as the one portrayed in the film--I could not imagine how anyone would have to be so very dependent on another, a partner, for survival. Nonetheless, many women could relate to this aspect of the film. In fact, when listening to accounts of the Governor's wife, news commentators said, "she left a very successful Wall Street Career 15 years ago," to marry the now Governor Sanford. Okay, that is what she did--and successfully until things, "fell apart." Does this mean we are to sit in judgment for what happened between these two individuals in their marriage that they voluntarily entered into? Are we, as observers, supposed to 'opine' erring on the side of morality and dictate the dissolution of a marriage, family, career and life?

Governor Sanford in his, "confession," said, "I hurt, her, you all, my wife, my boys..."--his choice of priority regarding who he hurt was also his choice of morality regarding what he did. However, does his choice of words and morality supersede his dereliction of duty? What if the conference he attended a year ago in Argentina was funded by the State of South Carolina? And, moreover, what if it turned out to be a "two-fer" for the State and his personal, social-sexual prowess? Then we have a problem of misappropriation of funds--which could be prosecuted criminally. We already know his proclivity caused him to be negligent leaving the state in the various precarious position of being unmanned, unattended and without leadership or direction.

Just remember, religious right and others--What Would Jesus Do? After all, we as mere mortals are not....Divine....