Thursday, June 17, 2021

Dear Ethicist: Like Water Off a Duck's Back

 


Dear Ethicist:

Why do some people get away with everything? Water off a duck’s back is the expression. Water killed the Wicked Witch, but that old duck just quacks away. Was Al Franken’s infraction up there with the accusations leveled by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of raping her in Bergdorf’s? Or the insurrection? What were Garrison Keillor’s “crimes?”  Of course, the question of whether a criminal should be allowed to publish or otherwise create is another matter altogether.  Luckily the thought police weren’t at work during Genet’s lifetime. Remember The Thief’s Journal? Everyone has a friend who's remarkable for their insouciance. The things that would mortify me don’t make a dent as far as they’re concerned. It’s his or her loss if they don’t like me is their mantra while I never forget a slight. In fact, I'm so sensitive, it can take me weeks, even months to risk another pass at life. If only I could mind the old recovery movement saw, what people think about me is none of my business. “For conscience doth make cowards of us all,” says Hamlet. Well, not all.

Hamlet Clone


Dear Hamlet Clone:  Not to worry. It's always better to err on the side of caution. Your philanderer friend who has all the affairs and seems impervious to the pain he or she causes may may be paying a price. Don't believe for a minute that people who are uninhibited are necessarily happy. They have problems too. One biggy is that they're going to die. Everyone pays the piper and those friends of yours you're so jealous of? They're going to literally have their day in court all right.

Read "Letter of Resignation" by Francis Levy, The East Hampton Star



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