I drew this 10 years ago today. Still true. Commentary is new.
One of the most oft repeated public events in our world today is the airing of a person’s ‘sins’ and the response from that exposed ‘sinner’. Yes, I am using the word ‘sinner’ on purpose, because it fits how people look at the infraction. We aren’t seeing it as slight breaking of some rule, like jay walking, we are seeing a perceived moral failure.
You name the person; Trump, Weinstein, Huffman, and more and there is harsh judgment not only for the infraction but for the public apology for the infraction. Why is that?
Because it’s talk vs action. They acted immorally but their immediate response is to talk morally. We inherently don’t like that. That is why we crave punishment. We want the immoral act to be balanced by another act, not by words. Nice words are not enough.
What we want is to see the person who dug the hole with his or her actions to dig out of the hole with actions as well. That is why redemption takes time and why most people who find themselves in a deep hole they created should say whatever mea culpa they need to say, knowing it is insufficient, and then shut up and start acting to get out of the hole.
The action might be incarceration, it might be charity, it might be exile, who knows. None of that matters though if the most critical action, the action that has to be there, isn’t implemented, and that is self-awareness. The sinner has to recognize they have sinned, they have to decide to take action to change their thinking and their behavior and then they have to take that action and never stop.
And what is our obligation in all this? I believe we err when our judgment is so harsh that we don’t allow that they actually may have dug themselves out of the hole with actions, not words, and that they deserve to be given a second (or third or fourth) chance. It doesn’t mean they get to be back in their same position of power over others, it simply means we allow that they have done the work and deserve a chance to do or be something better than they were.
Drawing and commentary © 2019 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com