Will he come out of the closet?

I’m afraid I’ve always had a streak of cynicism toward authority. Probably a consequence of being a Gen-Xer. It takes more than a title or a piece of paper framed on a wall for me to automatically hand over my respect to someone.

I am an optimist, and give authority figures the benefit of the doubt at first, but once they’ve had time to show their true colors, THAT is when I decide whether or not they are worthy of my respect. Example: I had high hopes for Bill Clinton at first, but once he got into the “big chair” and showed his stripes, he had no chance of getting my respect. In most cases, the authorities I have know personally have been ultimately worthy of my respect, but in some very disappointing cases they haven’t.

Just because someone has a title of “psychoanalyst” or “doctor” or even “archbishop”, does not necessarily mean that they are good at what they do. In my own profession of education, I have seen many people with lofty titles and framed papers on their office walls who have proven themselves to be total incompetants, cowards, or worse on the job. The sad thing is, parents trust their children to the decisions made by many people like this.

I guess this is just a long-winded way of saying I agree with Goat’s comment. It strikes close to home for me because I have been dealing with an inordinate number of incompetant authority figures over the past 12 months who hide behind their titles for protection. Thankfully, none of them has been in the realm of the Church.