Me Or Your Lying Eyes?

Back when I was a wee child, I knew all the signs of a man or woman having an affair -- the Lee Press On Nail clinging to a shirt, the hang-up phone calls on what is now almost an obsolete technology, the land line, the whispered intimacies at parties. It took a lot of planning to have an affair what with no cell phones or computers. You had to be where you said you would be, meetings were not spontaneous. But in some ways, I'm guessing celebrities like the beleaguered Tiger Woods were better off -- people might have suspected, but they had no proof. Like the old Richard Pryor line, even if you got caught in the act, you could simply say, Who you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?

In an information age, you can both get away with more and less. An affair, besides the requisite attraction, requires that you create a social space outside your marriage. That's not tremendously difficult if you have a job, an email address, or access to your own car, your own phone. You get where this is going. But if you do take advantage of these luxuries, your significant other's lying eyes can be supplemented with texts, voice messages, emails, the works. If you're Tiger, you better believe that one of your lovers might have not erased your texts with the message to erase everything, wifey knows! Many people I know are enjoying the downfall of Tiger (and I thought I was the only one who didn't really like his public persona and found his story a bit sanctimonious -- note to all, this is not a judgement, just my own personal taste), I'm not feeling anything about it one way or the other except interest in the bigger questions. Why do men or women cheat?(Julie Powell, author of Julie and Julia just wrote a book about cheating on her husband and learning how to butcher animals -- not probably the feel good hit of the year, but I'm guessing I'm reading it if only for the symbolism 101 in comparing the two activities). Does having a lot of money help you cheat? Damn skippy it does. And what of the aftermath? Can this marriage or any marriage be saved after a betrayal of trust? And who are you going to believe when it's all said and done -- the evidence, the man (or woman), or your lying eyes?

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"You can always become better." Tiger Woods

Cocktail Hour
Thinking of going to see Precious which looks great -- have any of you beautiful people seen it?

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Friday!