When Good Friends Go Bad

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored," where this afternoon we will be striking the rare serious note. If it's laughter you're after, sad to say ... not today.

Over the weekend a huge scandal broke in my old home county, craggy land of limestone and Civil War battles.

The politician who represented District 2A in the Maryland General Assembly House of Delegates abruptly resigned. At the same time he resigned from district leadership of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America.

The reason? Acting upon a tip, the police searched his house and found child pornography in the form of videos, print matter, and computer downloads.

This man was one of my oldest and dearest friends. I had no idea he might be doing something like this. I can only look back at his life in retrospect and from there detect possible clues that he had some sort of problem.

So far no one has come forward to accuse this person of actual child abuse. But we here at "The Gods Are Bored" say that anyone who buys or views child pornography might as well be doing the abusing, because they're creating a market for products that feature child abuse.

Yesterday another of my close friends from back home called me. He and I agreed that this is the biggest scandal to hit our county in our lifetimes. The story was reported in the Baltimore Sun and also (so I understand but don't quote me) on Fox News.

And so today my heart is heavy, not for the man I called friend for 34 years, but for all the children who were harmed to feed his well-kept secret addiction. In a faxed message he told the newspaper that he was "embarrassed." Embarrassed.

My religion has a central tenet: "An thou harm none, do what thou wilt." My friend did harm. He should be more than "embarrassed" about it.

FROM ANNE
THE MERLIN WHO ONCE LIVED IN DISTRICT 2A