What Do Sarah and Anthony Have in Common?

Sexting? Lying? Hypocrisy? Making stuff up? Nope.

Actually, it's what a lot of people have in common. They are normal.

Now, I'm not making excuses for either one of them. They should get the consequences of their actions and choices. The Congressman may have to resign or at least his influence is significantly diminished. And someday, consequences will catch up with Sarah. It may take a while.

I have it on good authority, that Sarah is a normal person. A have a long-time friend whom I find very trustworthy both because of who his is and because of his profession. No, not a lawyer, but in law enforcement. While preferring to keep his name unlinked on-line to the former governor of Alaska, he told me about an interview he had with her for a police chief position when she was the new mayor of Wasilla:


OK, I don't remember anything particularly positive or negative about it. She was of course nice enough. Results were what everybody thought - choice was least qualified (education/experience/training) of the bunch, and a well known "yes man" whom she could control and order around - which is why she ditched her existing chief, who had been well regarded. Not much on the gossip side - sorry. Word was way back then that she had cleaned house to control what went on in city hall on the micro level.

Sounds pretty normal to me, even if not the highest ideals we would want of an elected official. Another friend, whom I also trust even if a lawyer, maybe because he is a former Army JAG Officer, told me a second-hand story about a friend he has who was a speech writer for Governor Palin. The story there is that she's not as dumb as everybody thinks she is. Well, Paul Revere aside, that's probably right.

I can't even use the Congressman's last name without it becoming a bad joke. And he lied, lied, and lied, which is not a good thing. As an aside, one of my philosophies of life I picked up watching those book shows on C-Span is from a retired British Foreign Service official who said they had an informal, yet successful policy in the Service, "Always tell the truth. Never tell all the truth. Never pass up an opportunity to visit the restroom." Anthony could have used that.

The part of his scandal that leads to all the jokes is the same sort of thing that was a big scandal recently in Davis County Junior Highs! Sexting - Now that's kind of funny. But of course, very, very wrong. It's probably a lesson to all to remind us that anything we put on the internet will be revealed someday. Which is why with this blog I will never be elected to anything or called to a significant position in the church. But that's OK.

There are certainly things in my life history that I wouldn't want on the internet, especially not in visual form (yikes!) And you know what? I have a sneaking suspicion that is true for every human being who ever lived on the face of the earth.

So, what's to be done? I still think it's important to understand what the real intent is of anyone's actions are, even politicians. That's not easy to do but requires us to go a little easy in our judgments when there is so much we don't understand about each other. A little charity goes a long way.

As for each individual, I always come back to this religious principal, and each is entitled to his own ideals and religious tradition. But the way I see it is we're all normal and we're all wrong. But there is a way out:


For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father

Mosiah 3:19

Well, best of everything to y'all out there! Anthony and Sarah too.