Posted by
peripheral on Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:08:41 AM
From My Perspective - - -
To acquiesce means: “A silent or passive assent or submission, or a
submission with apparent content; distinguished from avowed consent on
the one hand, and on the other, from opposition or open discontent;
quiet satisfaction.” South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford conducted an
agonizing Press Conference yesterday afternoon. It was his Moment For
Truth! A brief summary states: “After going AWOL for seven days, Gov.
Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday that he had secretly flown to Argentina
to visit a woman with whom he was having an affair. Wiping away tears,
he apologized to his family and gave up a national Republican Party
post, but was silent on whether he would resign as Governor. ‘I've been
unfaithful to my wife,’ he said in a news conference in which the
49-year-old governor ruminated on God's law, moral absolutes and
following one's heart. He said he spent the last five days crying in
Argentina.”
Ironically, the confession by the Governor can easily be linked to:
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" the best-known song from the 1978 musical
Evita with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It
appears early in the second act as Evita addresses the crowd from the
balcony of the Casa Rosada and features a sweeping melody tied to broad
emotional themes of regret and defiance…” Some of the Lyrics parallel
the recent events in the Governor’s life and journey:
“It
won't be easy, you'll think it strange; When I try to explain how I
feel; that I still need your love after all that I've done. Don't
cry for me Argentina; The truth is I never left you; All through my
wild days; My mad existence; I kept my promise; Don't keep your
distance.
And as for fortune, and as for fame; I never invited them in; Though it
seemed to the world they were all I desired; They are illusions; They
are not the solutions they promised to be; The answer was here all the
time; I love you and hope you love me.
Don't cry for me Argentina! Have I said too much? There's nothing more
I can think of to say to you. But all you have to do is look at me to
know - That every word is true!”
Some of the email between the Governor and Maria border on the erotic.
Parts of two emails indicate the intricacy and extent of the
involvement of an “innocent” friendship. From the Governor: “In the
meantime please sleep soundly knowing that despite the best efforts of
my head my heart cries out for you, your voice, your body, the touch of
your lips, the touch of your finger tips and an even deeper connection
to your soul…” From Maria, described as the mother of two sons, she
wrote in an email on June 9, 2008: "You are my love…Something hard to
believe even for myself as it's also a kind of impossible love, not
only because of distance but situation. Sometimes you don't choose
things, they just happen…I can't redirect my feelings and I am very
happy with mine towards you."
Once again, truth and moral values get squeezed out of a person’s life
for a passing pleasure. One is reminded of the words in JEREMIAH 5:1-5,
“Run up and down every street in Jerusalem, says the LORD. Look high
and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one person
who is just and honest, I will not destroy the city. Even when they are
under oath, saying, As surely as the LORD lives, they all tell lies!
LORD, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they
paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to turn from sin.
They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to
repent. Then I said, But what can we expect from the poor and ignorant?
They don't know the ways of the LORD. They don't understand what God
expects of them. I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they will
know the LORD'S ways and what God requires of them. But the leaders,
too, had utterly rejected their God.” Crying in Argentina for five days
because the truth will be disclosed is one thing! Weeping in repentance
because of Moral Failure, violating his Marriage Covenant, ignoring his
duty to his four sons, and disobeying God’s Word and standard is
another. Some would judge this man severely and harshly – but all
should be reminded – but for the Grace of God, go I! Consider these
things with me!