Reckoning

How long will it last – and how deep will it go?

The reckoning, I mean. We appear to be having one in the United States, spurred on by what I’m not exactly sure.

Fellows who practice the bad behavior winked at in popular culture are sweating. Nobody seems immune. It seems they go from pointing out the motes in others’ eyes to finally plucking the beams from their own.

Is anyone immune?

Politicians are bad boys, from former presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, to senators and Senate candidates Al Franken and Roy Moore.

Entertainers, too, from Harvey Weinstein to – gasp – Pixar’s John Lasseter.

There are some claiming distinctions should be made, that some sins are forgivable, others are not; or are at least present on a sliding scale of depravity based on severity and location (assaults at the workplace are no-nos, but at a bar? Welllll . . . Seriously, that’s been brought up).

Ought there to be a scale?

Careful. Making a scale is akin to putting the slippery soap on the slippery slope. From the article (Sorry, one swear word ahead):

When women stand up to say “keep your hands off of me” there’s a good chance they’ll be called prudes. Saying there’s a sex panic is a fancy way of saying that women’s bodies don’t completely belong to them the way their cars do. Someone can damage a woman’s car in a very small way, and insurance companies take it seriously and pay for the repair. She owns that car, and has every right to protect it. But if someone grabs her butt without her permission, she needs to lighten up. What is she, a frigid bitch?

All animals are equal, of course. But some are more equal than others.

Forgivable?

Probably. But not based on some arbitrary sliding scale. Contrition, the suffering of consequences, the refutation of behavior, that’s part of forgiveness. Apologies are the beginning, not the end. And the sorrow must be for the sin, not the act of being caught.