Are you KIDDING??

Over the past month we have all been bombarded with the flamboyant images and stories surrounding the downfall of the once promising and rising political star Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick.

Well...where do I begin with this "mess", to say the VERY least! I suppose I will start here: IS HE SERIOUS!!!!???? Does this man have ANYTHING in his character that even remotely resembles self and familial respect?! (Please note...that is a VERY rhetorical question...because the answer is most certainly NO!!) He couldn't! After all that has taken place, all that has come out AND the ridiculous amount of taxpayers dollars that has been expended already to cover the ongoings of court costs...after humiliating his wife and HIMSELF...after destroying the faith that the community in the city of Detroit had placed in him....after doing such a WONDERFUL job of living up to the very stereotypical ideals that many people have about black men (especially black men in positions of power), he NOW has the nerve to say that he will NOT step down as the Mayor of Detroit! So again I ask....IS HE SERIOUS?!?!?!

Many people will quickly say that the measure of a man is how he stands through tests and trials and various adversities that come his way. On many levels, I agree...but then I would also add, that the measure of a man, the strength of his character, is also built on the more difficult task of knowing when it is for the greater good for him to know that it is time for him to step back and have a seat. Strength is NOT, or at least should not, be solely based on the ability for one to flex his muscles. REAL strength is knowing when it is time to stop. Real strength is knowing when you have done enough and when it is time to look at the greater picture and consider the feelings, needs and best course of actions that are for the greater good.

In this particular situation, I would certainly say that I believe it to be in the best interest of Mayor Kilpatrick AND his family for him to stop and resign his post. It is my opinion that he is not pressing forward because he is truly innocent and is being unfairly picked apart by the press and the opinionated minds of the world, but that he is power hungry, one who must be in control and believes that he should maintain his post no matter what the cost.

He is not considering the greater good of his family, the people to whom he has pledged his service to, or himself. I believe that he sees the eminent death of his once promising political career and is determined to ride it until it is a s dead as it can possibly get. But why? Where is the honor in that? If there is any honor in it, who does the honor go to? When you have one at your side who loves you and forgives such blatent acts of infidelity, who honors their vow to stand at your side for better or for worse, is it not your obligation to make sure that you are not responsible for making the things that would be considered "worse" and harder than they need to be? Is it not your obligation as the leader of a people to know when the course of actions that you have chosen to take at any given point in your leadership are more harmful and should cease? Is it not your obligation to know when enough really is TOO much?

Malcolm X is famous for coining the phrase "By any means necessary!", well...sometimes the necessary means is NOT to go forward....sometimes...it is necessary to know that it is time to STOP.

What do you think?