Soul's Code

Little did the New York governor know at the time but another Democrat with presidential ambitions, John Edwards, would later make this moment of public shame seem quaint

BY PAUL KAIHLA — It fits the spiritual season we’re in — the last week of Lent — that New York Governor Eliot Spitzer made a public contrition a few hours ago for cheating on his wife (woman, left) with prostitutes.

Ego-eviscerating confessions like this usually take place in private between a sinner and his or her rabbi or priest, not the national press corps: I apologize first, and most importantly, to my family. I apologize to the public, to whom I promised better.

To elaborate James Carville’s words on CNN a few moments ago, we’re here not to judge but to advance the causes of forgiveness, redemption and transformation — and that’s not just because Spitzer was listed as Client No. 9 . . .

. . . in the federal investigation that has made him an object of public shock and shame

Life forces all of us to deal with loss. And today, New York’s one-time, top law enforcement official faced the reality that he’s not the man that either we or he imagined himself to be. Spitzer will now learn about loss, deeply: the loss of political power, public respect and personal dignity.

Our recommendations for dealing with loss derive from recent first-hand experience among our own family, intimate partners and friends — not note-taking in a classroom.

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