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| Shauna and I with Mt. Assiniboine in the background |
A few weeks ago I discussed my youthful propensity to
judge and say cruel things. Even back as far as the early nineties, when I began
to write this weekly newsletter, there was plenty about which to be judgmental.
There were scandals in the Catholic Church, a half dozen televangelists who
couldn’t keep it in their pants, the O.J. Simpson fiasco/trial, and the usual celebrity
and political scandals that seem to find their way into the headlines. Now that
we have the Orange Emperor, who has managed to become the most notorious hate
magnet since Adolph Hitler, the judgment continues. I am as guilty as the next
man of forming my opinions based on bad information. I still judge, and I suspect
we all do to a certain extent. I have mellowed a bit in my old age.
I was talking to a friend last week about the Tony Clement
sex scandal which recently hit Muskoka. Clement had been caught tweeting photos
of his genitalia to a young female, and he was being extorted to keep the
scandal a secret. He chose, probably rightly so, to turn the matter over to
authorities, thereby making his problem a matter of public record. Clement
literally destroyed his very successful political career, and has become the butt
of a thousand jokes, all because he has a sex problem. I really don’t care to
hear the dirty little secrets about other people’s personal lives, but this is
the price any public figure pays these days. Oh, to be back in the good old
days, when a powerful politician could have a sex symbol murdered to avoid scandal.
The point my friends were making – and they both know (or thought they knew) Tony
quite well – is that it was a shame that he had failed so publicly in this very
human way. They were shocked and dismayed, but the common sentiment was that
the community and social media has made things much worse. Everyone is heaping
on the indignation and hatred. Regardless of what you think about Tony’s
politics, to all those who are kicking a dead horse, I ask: are there any
skeletons in your closet? I cannot imagine what it would be like to be such a prominent
public figure so publicly exposed (literally) as having a sex problem. What
Clement did was reprehensible, and his actions showed terrible judgment,
especially considering his responsibility to his constituents. That said, his
career is probably over, and I’m certain this scandal has been devastating to
his family. His life is ruined, and while he is decidedly responsible for his own stupid actions, have a little compassion. We are all so quick to judge, myself
included, but from my experience, the most self-righteous among us are often the biggest hypocrites.
I think Tony has been humiliated enough.
Shauna and I first met because we are both
songwriters, and at the time we exchanged demo tapes of our original songs. She
has been my muse for 25 years now, and has often shaped, influenced, and in
some cases co-written the songs I’ve created. Last Thursday night I premiered a
song Shauna had written in 1986 entitled Not
With You. While it’s only a rough demo, I think the recording represents
Shauna’s songwriting skills, as well as her beautiful voice. She was very
nervous to have me air the song, but the response has been overwhelmingly
positive. For many years now, Shauna has put her music on the back burner to support
my music and the music of other local artists. We celebrated our 10th
Anniversary by spending a beautiful weekend at the Mt. Assiniboine Lodge (on
the border of Alberta and British Columbia), and we wrote a song about the
experience. The other day, Shauna and I rehearsed the song with the intention
of someday soon recording it together. It’s a good song and very meaningful to
us both. Hopefully, we will get the song properly recorded before our 25th
this coming May. I also hope this will be the beginning of many more collaborations
wherein Shauna sings with me. She has a MUCH better voice than I do!
- Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
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