An Honorable American Teenager, A Dishonorable American Politician

Two vastly different stories came together in my mind the past day or so. The first story involved an American who did the honorable and compassionate action as it related to recognition and the feelings of others. The other American was involved in lying, sexting, and crudity. If I was tell you these incidents included a teenage boy and an American Congressman, most people, without knowing what has happened in the news this past week  or so, would probably attribute the honorable and compassionate behavior to a supposed mature adult, a leader of the country and the immature, childish behavior to the teenage boy.

However, you would be wrong on both counts. Let's start with the honorable and compassionate teenager, as reported in the golf section of a recent Sports Illustrated article that was written by Jonathan Price. Jonathan Price is a high school sophomore and his friend, Michael Pope is a high school senior. They are good friends and both play on the Granville Central High School golf team. Both were competing in a round of golf to determine which one would go on to play in the state tournament and possibly become state high school golf champion.

Both Price and Pope finished their round of golf tied. However, since only one of them would be allowed to go on to the state tournament, their fate would be determined by a sudden death playoff. Price writes how much he wanted to go to the state golf tournament and how much it would mean to him.

On the first playoff hole, both golfers reached the green in two shots. Pope's long putt ended up about four feet short. Price's first putt almost went in the hole but ended up only a few inches away from the hole, a sure par. If Pope missed his difficult putt, Price would go on to the state tournament.

However, Price writes that if that happened, then his friend Pope would have missed his last opportunity to compete in the state tournament since he was a graduating senior whereas Price would have two more years to qualify  for the state tournament. Putting his own desires, wants, and needs aside, Price picked up his ball, which disqualified himself, and conceded the hole, opening the way for his friend to get the final slot in the state tournament.

What an honorable and compassionate thing to do, looking out for his friend's needs and desires, sacrificing his desires in the process. Certainly a noble gesture from what sounds like a noble kid who concluded the article with the following quote: "I gave up a chance to go to the state tournament, but I know I made someone else happy, and that's all that matters." Fabulous, unselfish  performance from an honorable American teenager.

Which brings us to the dishonorable American politician. Unless you have been living under a rock these past few weeks, you now know the twisted, pathetic story about New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. After reviewing the details of this sordid affair below, I doubt you would use any of the adjectives we used above for Jonathan Price, honorable, compassionate, noble, and unselfish to describe the Congressman:

• About a week ago, news reports started circulating that someone had sent a photo of a man's aroused crotch to a young lady using Weiner's twitter account.
• The Congressman initially denied he sent the tweet with aroused crotch, falsely claiming that some unknown person had hacked his Twitter account and sent the picture.
• However, shortly thereafter, the Congressman retracted the lie and admitted that he had sent the picture himself.
• But, he avoided definitively answering the question whether the picture was a picture of himself, which it now turns out it was indeed a picture of himself.
• Finally, yesterday, the Congressman admitted he sent the lewd photo of his own underwear clad crotch and that he repeatedly lied about his role. He also admitted that he had "inappropriate" contact with six women over the course of three years, both before and after his recent marriage, both over social networking sites and over the phone.
• One of the woman, as reported by the Associated Press, told the press that she had exchanged over 100 electronic messages and that the Congressman constantly tried to steer the conversations towards sex. In his press conference, the Congressman confirmed that this was one of the women he had communications with.
• Another woman claimed that she had received shirtless photos of and from the Congressman, which the woman claimed were among numerous intimate photos, chats, and emails the two had exchanged.
• Numerous potential ethics violations may have been made especially if the Congressman used government issued computers, cell phones, or telephones to carry on these exchanges with the six women, which may require a House of Representatives ethics investigation.
• Even if he had not used government equipment, he might still face an ethics inquiry since he may have violated House of Representative rules including the one that reads: "a member shall conduct himself at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House." Repeated lying and sexting probably falls into this category.

What a role reversal, a teenage boy acts like a compassionate leader, an elected  official acts like a twelve year old boy. The Congressman' private life, which many would say is none of our business, really is our business as voters and Americans:

• This type of reckless behavior of the Congressman left him vulnerable to blackmail on my different levels, personally, professionally and legislatively, if someone had an agenda and a blackmailing type of disposition.
• While the country is facing so many issues in so many areas, a House ethics investigation will take valuable time and resources away from addressing those issues and divert them to a needed ethics investigation effort.
• Other major politicians in Washington, notably Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Chuck Schumer among others, have had press conference and issued press releases relative to this matter, more waste of time, resources and efforts, that might be better spent on real issues.
• The Congressman has verified this week that he is a serious and serial liar, destroying any credibility in the future he might have on any issue since we would never know if he was lying again or not, further diverting focus from solving real problems.

For these reasons and more, the Congressman needs to take an example from Jonathan Price and put others ahead of his apparently very selfish needs and resign from office immediately, for the good of his family and more so, for the good of the country. The last thing we need in office in Washington is a liar, there is enough lying, misinformation, demagoguery, and spin doctoring there already, we do not need to keep a confirmed liar in office. Resign, Congressman, and let us get on with the business of being serious about the country. 

Honor, compassion, and unselfish behavior can be found in America today, just not in Washington D.C. We found it alive and well at Granville Central High School. Thank you Mr. Jonathan Price for giving us an honorable example of human behavior amidst the dishonorable and despicable behavior we seem to constantly find in Washington D.C. 


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