Say it ain't so...

 

I am a soldier. I enlisted in the army when I was 17, only a junior in high school. I have served this nation for more than 13 years and plan on serving until they make me take the uniform off for good. During my time in the service I have encountered some of the best (and worst) men and women this country has to offer. Though I have never met him, General David Petraeus is one of the best officers produced in the modern army.

Though he left the army for the CIA 14 months ago his career spanned more than 37 years. He was a West Point grad, married his college sweetheart, earned a PhD from Princeton, became an Army Ranger, took an M-16 bullet in the chest during a training accident and has always been a "PT (physical training) Stud." He literally wrote the book on counterinsurgency in a pretty successful attempt to deal with Iraq and became one of the most widely respected officers in the army. He was known as a scholar warrior, a soldier who was impeccable in his soldier skills and a brilliant academician. Yeah, he is one of my heroes.

So I was pretty bummed out when I was running on the treadmill at the gym and saw the story that he resigned as director of the CIA after it was discovered he had an affair with his biographer. The biographer was a journalist who followed him around Afghanisatn for a year wrriting his story. She was also a West Point grad and when I saw her interviewed several months ago it was obvious that like me, he was one of her heroes.

He explained, "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours." I guess it is commendable he is owning up to his mistakes but why are so many of my heroes terribly flawed?! Martin Luther King Jr. was a notorious philanderer, Ghandi had all sorts of disturbing characteristics, Abraham Lincoln was far from perfect and don't even get me started on Brigham Young and Joseph Smith.

I guess that is what makes their human existence plausible, these are imperfect people doing extraordinary things. But hey, I'm an imperfect guy and who knows, maybe I might do something extraordinary in my life just like my heroes. So maybe their mistakes make them more human, more like me? At any rate I don't want to judge someone on their mistakes, no matter how serious, when their whole lives were full of so many accomplishments and so much to admire.