Andare, Partire, Tornare ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A bad taste in my mouth Well, in the past five days, I've driven back to Virginia, interviewed and got the job I had been hoping for, and got caught up (although only peripheraly) in a neighborhood scandal. T's mom has been living in the same neighborhood for over ten years, and she was good friends with a particular couple that is now moving out of state. This past week, though, the husband has been accused of writing a letter inviting the 14 year old girl next door to have sex. The evidence seems rather damming (a letter in his own hand) but he swears that he never meant for the girl to see it, and that the letter was born out of his lonelyness and depression (his wife has been gone for six weeks, getting things together in the state they are relocating to) The girl was over helping him pack boxes up when she found the letter - she claims that it was placed out for her to find, he claims that it wasn't meant for anybody's eyes, especially hers. What a catastrophe. T's mom is upset that the rest of the neighbors are rushing to judgement (stories about how they never *really* liked him, and that if you look back, you can see this coming - mostly bullshit, to be honest) when these people have always been good neighbors. But the other half of that is that it is scary to have this sort of person living next door to a young girl, and that people do rush to judgement in a possible pedophelia case because it's so terrifying. All of this also wants me to say rude things about the sexualization of younger women in the media, like Brittany Spears and her ilk. So I don't know what to think. I barely know the man or his wife - I was better aquainted with their dog. But T's mom is truly distraught. On one hand, she is upset that the young girl had to go through this, but she is also upset about the lack of loyalty to somebody who has been a friend and is accused, but not yet convicted, of any major wrongdoing. I think there may also be a smidgen of "Well, nothing actually happened, no harm no foul" going on in there as well. More moral dilemnas. I don't know how I would feel if a close friend was ever accused of something like this. It would cause you to doubt any instincts you ever had about people and their nature, which is what friendships and love-relationships are built on. This man's wife will have to address the fact that she married somebody who was fantasizing about the girl next door, who they have known ever since she was an infant. I think the situation will end in therapy and a relocation, and it will be mostly forgotten about, but there will always be lingering doubts and worries. At least, thank God, nothing more happened. 4:27 p.m. - 2001-06-30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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