(Article first published as Even General Petraeus is Not Above Human Failure on Technorati)
Since General David Petraeus resigned as CIA director last
week, citing an extramarital affair, this thing has been all over the news. For
journalists, the timing could not have been better. After all, the presidential
election was over, and the news media needed something else hot to talk about,
and they are definitely doing that.
Turns out that the person General Petraeus had the affair
with was his young and attractive biographer Paula Broadwell.
What a sad way to end an otherwise enviable career for the
four-star general who faithfully served
our country in the military for over 37 years, before serving as CIA director. He
referred to the incident as "extremely poor judgment." I agree. The
Bible also calls it sin.
But let's face it; men and women engage in illicit affairs
every day--even preachers do. Of course, what makes the Petraeus-affair such big
news is because it involves a four-star general. It involves the then-CIA
director. If this was only Joe Blow down the street who was involved in an
illicit affair it would not even make the local news. It would be no more than
neighborhood gossip.
That brings me to the subject of human failure. True, to whom
much is given much is required. We should expect the conduct and judgment of
our CIA director to be on a much higher level than that of the average citizen.
Even as I write, there are concerns as
to whether or not any intelligence breaches have resulted or will result from
General Petraeus' indiscretion.
But the truth is that no matter what position a person
holds, no matter what degree of trust is placed in a person, and no matter how
damaging the consequences of human failure may be, not one of us is above human
failure. The Petraeus-affair underscores this reality.
People in high places who have been vested with power know
temptation on a much more intense level than the rest of us do. That does not
make their wrongs justifiable. It's just a statement of fact. Accordingly, we
must seriously pray for our leaders. Yes, they need God's help just like the
rest of us do, perhaps even more.
Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.
2 comments:
Very well said Frank. I also feel very sad for his wife, married for over 30+ years, who has had to endure pure embarrassment as people all over the world hear about his infidelity. It is a big story in the UK at the moment too.
This just shows how destructive ONE bad decision can be. As for Petraeus' wife, in my opinion, she got the most rotten end of the deal. A number of families have been permanently changed for the worse by this event. As the story unfolds, it seems to get uglier and stranger. I am sure that if the general could take this one back he would.
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