Lessons From Tiger's Tall Tales

Infidelity breeds breach of contract.

Courtesy: midwestsportsfans.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Golfer Tiger Woods merely represents the latest in a seemingly unending series of tall tales that reflect the scope of infidelity perpetrated in our country.

To his now-discredited name we can add the former governor of New York, a Democrat, and the incumbent governor of South Carolina. Mr. Spitzer had a media blitz when literally caught with his pants down cajoling a call girl on unofficial business in DC.

Likewise, Mr. Sanford could ill afford a sojourn south to meet his mistress in Argentina while misleading the public that he was hiking the Appalachians. It gave new meaning to the horizontal version of "it takes two to tango".

All of which raises a relevant legal issue: Is marital breach of contract meriting less oversight than a business breach?

When the marriage vows declare, "foresaking all others" as the key element of a marriage partnership, should those who opt to violate those vows suffer a strong penalty?

If we genuinely believe that infidelity is anti-social, we owe it to our society to make the punishment fit the crime. Why adhere to formal marriage if you make a mockery of same?

Somehow we elevate ourselves as "superior" to so-called lower animals. We are thinking creatures, we tell the outer world. Yet that low impulse control renders us nothing less than four legged animals when libido rules the roost.

I've heard various potential penalties mentioned. For some, it could be financial; that the philanderer would lose 25% of his/her annual income for each offense. That could go to the court to spend on needs of domestic violence victims. Anyone who excedes two transgressions would then have the marriage dissolved.

There may also be jail time to serve. Or community service mandated. Or loss of drivers license for violations of the marriage license. The menu for violations is up to us.

This badly requires public debate. With Valentine's Day on the horizon, let there be public hearings to settle the issue.

It makes no rational sense to send a bunch of roses to the spouse and then cavort in a bed of thorns with yet another.

If the pelvis prevails over the brain, we must be brain-dead.

Think about it. Do not squander your body in the process.

===========================================

Salem-News.com Community Writer Barry Lee Coyne brings to our readers stories from his combined career of journalism and gerontology, and explains that these paths shaped his values. This writer-therapist often views the world as the masks of comedy and tragedy placed upon the scales of justice. For him, optimism inevitably wins. "Lyrical Lee" has traveled to 30 nations aboard and was once a press intern at the UN. His first published article was in The NY Daily News in '59, dealing with the need for integrity in public office.

He also launched the nation's first tele-conference on health education for shut-ins, created the Eldermentors project in VA to pair retirees with immigrant students needing role models, and was the main catalyst behind CCTV's "Public Public" panel show here in Salem. Lee received his BA in International Relations and an MSW in community organization. He currently serves as a member of Salem's Library Advisory Board. To send Lee an email, please write to this address: notcoy@netzero.net