Lover felt ashamed but others praised

Extra matrimonial relations by a man with any woman are always condemned be it in east or west or south or north for that matter and the lover is rebuked but in the given particular case the lover is being praised by different people at all the levels despite the hard fact that he has committed an offence of not just immorality but gross immorality to be honest. Today Saturday 10th November, 2012 this is the top news at CNN at 0900 my time and 1100 Pakistan time and hence I took up a pen to pen on it accordingly for the knowledge and benefit if those Pakistanis who may not have read the news still.

This happened in a country which is not only a super power rather in fact the super most amongst the super six powers and on the top of it the person involved in such love affairs is not an ordinary commoner or even a commissioned officer in uniform as one may think of but khaki with more decorations than the rank itself. He is Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chief General David Petraeus who himself purely at his own publicly admitted that he has some sort of sexual relations with someone sometime and somewhere which pricked him to the extent that he could not keep to his chest anymore and resultantly he had to open up and as a consequence thereof he tendered his resignation from such a coveted post in the power corridors of USA. It will be very much appropriate to quote his own words on the subject rather than writing my views. He wrote it to his colleagues reading,’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’. He tendered his resignation to the President Obama who did accept but has very highly commended his services and the contributions he has made while in public service. He was not hesitant to say that it is a great loss to lose such a distinguished personality who has remarkably excelled in countering terrorism and certainly he is one of the best people of the present century. Many other officials and even politicians for that matter have used very praise worthy words eulogizing his vision, far sightedness and leadership qualities. They were one voiced in saying that he is unmatched and will be remembered for ever.

It goes without saying that even though it has come in press as to who is the lady with whom he had such relations but yet none, not even one raised his or her finger about his immorality rather they all instead concentrated on his efforts and contributions he has made towards the country. His glorious past and present is so dazzling that none even thought of it to dent it with this immoral incident and this is what matters the most. General has accepted his immorality which is certainly a minus and not a plus for him for sure which he himself admits also but still as a prudent nation the Americans weighed his services against this immorality and it was found out that the two are as apart as earth and sky so they praised the general and not jeered at him. Had it happened so in my beloved Pakistan then I am sure people would have stoned him if not gunned instead. He had been ridiculed to by us right from top to the bottom to the extent that he had even thought of committing suicide rather than being insulted and insulted alone.

The crux is that same offense is dealt differently in different countries and the decision rests with you as to which side you vote for. Apparently it looks to be nothing but a case of moral turpitude  which should earn punishment and not praise and very safely speaking this is what will happen in almost all the under developed countries or those which are on board to develop but perhaps none will appreciate it whatsoever. My personal view is that we should not mix up virtues with vices or good deeds with bad deeds because such type of intermingling will be more detrimental and not at all conducive to tell you the truth. Both be taken up independently so that at the time of evaluation we judiciously acknowledge the merits and the qualities of the person concerned so that his or her contribution is not over shadowed by his or her ill acts but at the same time it be understood very clearly that by such an approach I am not trying to convert any evil into virtue or vice versa as one may construe it alike. White remains white while black remains black.

What lesson, if any, have we learnt from Gen David and USA nation?