Saturday, September 19, 1998

For many, what to do about Clinton scandal is a 'puzzlement'

By Lauren R. Stanley

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Americans these days are faced with a conundrum, a dilemma or, as the King of Siam so eloquently puts it in the musical "The King and I," "a puzzlement."

In Washington, we have the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky-Ken Starr-Congress "thing" going on at high speed, with seemingly little or no thought being given to the consequences of each action.

In the rest of the country, we have, it seems, a "puzzlement."

For the rest of the country, it seems, is caught up in its own moral dilemma. And it doesn't know what to do about it.

In this investigation, people seem to settle into one of three different categories: totally anti-Clinton (so that anything goes in order to get him out of office); totally pro-Clinton (so that anything can be forgiven in order to keep him in office); and the rest of us, who feel and are portrayed as morally ambiguous people who say one thing and do another.

Somehow, those of us caught in the middle are being made to feel as those we, too, are at fault.

All because we don't know how to solve this "puzzlement."

We are, as the president says, tired of this whole thing.

And yet we are titillated.

So we have to decide: How much do we (a) want to know and (b) need to know? Somewhere, there's a fine line between those two points, but most of us don't know where that line is drawn.

We want people to have -- and live out -- the highest moral standards.

And yet we want to have -- and to give -- privacy, as in, "Some things in a person's life should be kept private."

So we have to find that line as well.

We want to punish the man who has crossed all kinds of boundaries.

And yet, we aren't certain who that man is, Clinton or Starr.

So we have to decide who are the heroes, who are the villains.

All in all, it's a "puzzlement."

Most of the people in the corridors of power in Washington seem to feel that the Clinton-Lewinsky affair is the most important item on everyone's agenda right now.

But most of the people in the country seem to feel that, well, yes, it's important, but hey, so is the economy, and my kid's school life, and don't forget about the home run chase.

In other words, we as a country can't even decide how much attention to give to this dilemma.

To be honest, most of us are embarrassed by the whole thing. Sex is an incredibly important part of our society (just watch TV or go to the movies). But with the release of the Starr report, we have decided that sometimes, too much sex is not a good thing. Parents in particular are caught in a nasty trap of having to explain things about sex that they fervently hoped they never would have to discuss among adults, never mind with kids.

And then there's the question of impeachment. Does what Clinton did constitute "high crimes and misdemeanors"? Ken Starr says yes, claiming Clinton lied and obstructed justice. Bill Clinton says no, it was just an affair.

Which leaves all of us with, yet again, another "puzzlement."

Some of the pundits have taken to task those of us who can't get out of the middle, who don't know how to resolve the dilemma. America's moral backbone is bending way too much, those folks claim.

And yet, those of us in the middle say, Yes, what Clinton did was wrong. But was he wrong enough to be impeached? Haven't we all sinned -- perhaps not on this magnitude, perhaps on even greater magnitudes? Don't we all seek forgiveness and mercy? And if that's what we want, is that what we should give?

All in all, as of the King of Siam used to say, "Is a puzzlement."

Perhaps what we need to do is to listen again to God's charge to all of us regarding our lives, and how we are to live them.

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

Perhaps if we were to concentrate more on doing justice with loving kindness, then we would be able to walk humbly with our God.

And perhaps then we would know what to do with this "puzzlement."

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(The Rev. Lauren R. Stanley is a priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. Readers may write to her care of Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, 790 National Press Building, Washington, D.C., 20045.)

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(c) 1998, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.