Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Lies, Lies and More Lies: “The Weiner Lesson”

Well by now we are all passed “did he do it” and quite tired of hearing about it.  Did Moses part the Red Sea?  Does the wind blow?  Is water wet?  Did Obama win the 2008 election?  Is Hawaii a state?  Was Obama born in the U.S.?  Give me a drum roll for the next one?  Were there WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in Iraq… hmm?  Now we know that all has NOT been said and done here concerning the Weiner but what if it was, what would the lesson be?  What would be “The Weiner Lesson? 

The lesson here is to just tell the truth or step away from the microphone.  If only “The Weiner” would have just said that, “Yes, I sent some stupid pictures over the net.”  I believe this simple statement could have saved us all what might be a 10-30 day news cycle on the subject if we are lucky.  Oh sure, a few would be angry and even fewer laughing while very few would have been hurt by the bizarre behavior from an elected official; but more important there would NOT be “The Weiner Lesson” of tell the truth or step away from the microphone (public). 
           
But now we have all taken it personally because it was a public lie.  The pictures just aren’t anything impressive or something we all have not seen before.  I wonder how many people really care about the pictures anyway.  Nobody likes to be lied to and that is where he really made his second mistake.  We have “The Weiner Lesson” because of the lie.  The bottom line to the public is simple.  What else have you lied about that concerns the public trust?  But when we all dig deeper into “The Weiner Lesson,” we can easily put ourselves into a situation that caused us to lie about something which takes me to my final point.
           
Who has not lied before?  Yes, you must count the white ones too.  Is it wrong?  Yes, of course but life must go on.  [So as the crowd shouts to stone her, the most famous man simply says “Ye without fault should throw the first stone.”  At that point all the stones were put down and everyone walked away.]  So the lesson for Congressman Weiner and all of us is to only do what we will be able to speak about on the microphone (in public).  But the final point is about forgiveness.  It is not just a word it is an act.  Who have you forgiven today?