“Timing is everything”…how often have we all heard that saying? The fact is, it’s true. I have often heard people give “timing” credit for meeting their spouse or getting/losing their job. Sadly, such is the reason we can point to as a key factor for Al Franken losing his job as a United States senator. Don’t get me wrong, his inappropriate behavior with multiple women was the primary factor, it just wasn’t the only one. Unfortunately, it has come to light in the midst of the “#me too” revolution & at the same time when Roy Moore, an alleged child molester is running for the Senate. His misdeeds, however, are minor when compared to the behavior of people like Moore, Weinstein, Trump & far too many more to itemize.
A Time Of Reckoning
In a time of long overdue reckoning rightly demanded after previously untold harassment & abuse of women especially in the workplace, coupled with increasingly intense political tribalism, there really was no other option. With Moore’s pending election, the impact of every criticism of him has been watered down and met with the phrase “well what about Al Franken” even though there is no fair comparison to be made between Franken’s inappropriate groping & Moore’s credibly accused pedophilia. While many women, including myself, believe that in order to be fair, there ought to be gradations of punishment for mistreatment of women, this simply is not the time. Perhaps NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand put it best when she said that none of it is acceptable; so we shouldn’t be asked to make distinctions between assault, harassment, groping & other inappropriate behavior towards women. She claimed that it was time to just “draw a line in the sand” & demand that ALL of it has to be stopped with the implication that it all has to be seen as well as punished in the same way. It is my hope, however, that with a combination of frank dialogue & education, yielding a deeper understanding of the effect of such behavior on women both personally as well as professionally, things will change for the better. Just as we view stealing an ice cream differently from grand larceny, only after this period of reckoning will we be able to treat such bad behavior in their proper perspective because while it's clear that none of it is acceptable, that doesn't mean all of it is equal.
