He was charm personified and really successful, she was young, fresh and beautiful.. Full of life and they did what a man and a woman do when they are in lust – have an affair. Today that man is about to be a grandfather and is all excited about welcoming his grandchild. Today that woman, is still looking for a man that she could get old with.
That man was 51 and she was 24 when they met at the workplace. He was the head of the organization and she was just starting out. Well hormones don’t understand designations and he being the head of the organization, thought he could get away with it. She was not the first and wouldn’t be the last. He was married, to a different woman and had a daughter who is about to have her baby.
Nothing wrong with the affair, as both were adults and had the right to do what they pleased. But then it was a scandal when it broke out. He was a much respected citizen and had the system backing him up… She was just a young woman who was quickly labeled a tramp, whore, slut and every other dirty word that could be used. He was protected while she was hounded. She tried staying away from the limelight, she tried speaking out, but neither worked. She was just a juicy news item and asking her any question was fair game.
An anchor asked her about her speciality – a ?,”@** job… Wonder if he would have asked that powerful man, how was it to have an affair with a girl who could be your daughter ? She contemplated suicide, she got into rehab, she tried to piece her life together but the ratings-hungry paparazzi wouldn’t leave her alone. She finally left the country of her birth and managed to study further. While the man retired rich, continues to be well respected and is considered charm personified.
Sure, it’s great that the man has moved on and his family is intact and his wife looks up at him adoringly and “respectfully” … The girl turned forty, alone, humiliated at every step, a butt of jokes, innuendo and just her parents as non-judgemental support, desperate to move on, only the world doesn’t let her. The inequality of punishment just because you are a woman.
I wonder how he would feel if his grand-daughter meets a powerful 51 year old man when she turns 24 and the story repeats itself ?? Hey, the mighty and powerful, are but mere dust when death takes the breath away and the wheel of Karma keeps accounts 🙂
All this while your blood boiled over and you were feeling completely sympathetic about the girl … Do you feel differently if I told you the man is Bill Clinton and the girl is Monica Lewinsky ? If you suddenly find yourself smiling or smirking, wipe it off your face. She was 24 when she had that infamous affair and today 16 years later, she is struggling to live a normal life. A normal life that you and I take for granted. Stop printing that joke about her right now, stop calling her names, stop the innuendo – she deserves a life of dignity. She is a woman and a human being … She just had an affair, just like anybody else. Let her live her life !
Please read her latest interview shame and survival . Atleast she is helping many young people to get over their depression, suicidal tendencies and getting to live their full lives. What sort of a twisted world we live in where your life is ruined if you had the audacity to have an affair with a powerful man. He gets away scot free, blemish less and you are repeatedly humiliated :(:(
Stay strong Monica. The culture of humiliation as you so aptly put it, must end. May life happen to you. You’ve paid your dues many times over girl and for many of us.