ONE STEP FROM STUPID…
Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plummeting fall from one of the “Golden Haired Boys” of politics shook the nation recently. The son of Jewish Eastern-European parents, Spitzer had grown up in Riverdale, NY and then attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School.
Serving two terms as the New York Attorney General earned him the title of “the Sheriff of Wall Street.” He had cleaned up brokerage houses and insurance industry abuses and taken on the $187.5 million dollar compensation package of former NYSE chairman Richard Grasso, calling it excessive and out of line, and had won. Ironically, he had even overseen the busting of a prostitution ring in 2004 that brought 18 people down on prostitution and related charges.
Now, he has fallen himself. Revealed as “Client 9″ in investigative reports, Spitzer had met with a high-priced call girl from the Emperors Club VIP at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC the night before Valentine’s Day. And, investigations would show this was not the first time.
How sad it was to watch his shattered wife standing next to him, in humiliation, as he told the citizens of New York, “I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family.” That will be a long, hard road.
But leaders litter the landscape with broken laws, broken marriages, broken lives and broken organizations….Tyco, Worldcom, and Enron just to name a few. And it has happened, and continues to happen, in every arena of life. Why?
Well, I am not the psychological expert who could best address the underlying struggles. However, I do believe that it has a lot to do with a statement I made in a book I wrote several years ago titled BENEATH THE SURFACE. That was that we are all ONE STEP FROM STUPID at any given moment!
Given that reality, it becomes even more important that we put into practice Proverbs 4:23 where we are counseled to ABOVE ALL, GUARD OUR HEARTS. And guards don’t just “happen” to be in place. They have to be posted. So, how are you doing in posting guards at your heart? After all, everything else will come out of that!
March 24th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I heard you speak recently in Texas at a men’s conference. It was a fantastic weekend! I bought all 3 of the books–and have recommended them to my friends. Thanks for being so real.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:58 am
You’re comments are right on. I listened to all the explanations last week when this hit the news–looking for why Spitzer had been so stupid–but the solution really does come down to guarding your heart. Thanks for the reminder.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I heard you speak a few years ago–and you used the phrase, “we are all one step away from stupid.” That phrase–and your talk probably saved my marriage. At the tme, I was flirting with another woman–not giving much thought about the possible consequences. But your message on Beneath the Surface hit me between the eyes. Don’t ever quick reminding men to guard their hearts.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:23 am
We too often underestimate the power of the flesh, and the intensity of the struggle in this life to maintain integrity and holiness. When we cease to fight for righteousness in our own lives, it is either because we have either given up (a sad state) or perhaps because we have been led into a sense of ease, contentment, and false security (a dangerous state).