“Weary: having one’s patience exhausted . . .”
These past few weeks of news of powerful men’s abuse of women culminating this week in the pathetic case of Anthony Weiner’s internet exploits just leaves me weary.
“Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from God. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. . . . Blessed are those who trust in God . . . They shall be like a tree planted by water . . .“ Jeremiah 17.5-8
These past few weeks of news of powerful men’s abuse of women culminating this week in the pathetic case of Anthony Weiner’s internet exploits just leaves me weary. It’s not that we don’t know that this stuff is going on all the time; it’s just hard to be reminded up front by this relentless parade of boys being boys [sic] and the consequences for the rest of us.
Add to this the clergy representative of the moment, Bishop Eddie Long, who settled out of court with his four young male accusers in a deal which, sadly, seems to come with a gag order. This means that the young men cannot speak about their experiences or the settlement. The result for Long is private consequences (financial) but no public accountability. For the survivors, some restitution but no justice; all of which makes healing for the survivors and for New Birth Missionary Baptist Church much more difficult. It also makes the possibility of real repentance for Eddie Long more difficult. This amounts to the “sweep it under the carpet” strategy or, in biblical terms, “healing the wound lightly, saying ‘peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.’” (Jeremiah 8:11)
What is it about powerful men and entitlement? There is still an assumption in male culture of sexual access to women and youth, AND an assumption that there will be no consequences. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French politician who was arrested as he boarded a plane to Paris after (allegedly) raping a hotel maid, was no doubt surprised that he was being called to account for his criminal behavior. Anthony Weiner seems to have assumed that his juvenile sexting/tweeting fell under the category of “no harm, no foul” and that it was anonymous internet activity! Entitlement plus arrogance equals stupidity. And then you add “the rules don’t apply to me” attitude and you get very public boundary violations and betrayal of public trust. Here’s the thing I really don’t understand: each of these men has seen what has happened to their peers whose disgraces have preceded them. Does this not register?? Not only do the rules not apply, but they think they won’t get caught!
Finally my question is: don’t these individuals have responsibilities to attend to? Each of these men in recent news stories is someone in a powerful and responsible position of leadership. They have taken on a role that supposedly involves service to their constituency. They have been given the power they have in order to lead and act in the best interests of those they serve. Not only have they betrayed the trust of their communities but they, it would appear, are also spending valuable time engaged in illegal and or unethical “recreational” activities.
Jeremiah is right, if we trust in mere mortals we will be like shrubs in the desert. Our trust must be in God. And yet we really do deserve better from these mere mortals.
Marie's commentary on Anthony Weiner and others