Flirting For Dummies

The newly appointed CEO of Lockheed Martin was able to accept her new position extra-quick because the former CEO apparently couldn’t keep his affairs in order. Literally. (Note: I’m sure that Mrs. Hewson is a better choice for CEO anyway, and Lockheed’s handling seems to be highly professional.)

Colonel Petraeus has succeeded in dropping the level of conversation about his brilliant career to his sophomoric use of emails to carry on an illicit extra-marital affair. According to the journalist Frida Ghitis, Col. P fell prey to a form of temporary insanity caused by the interaction of arrogance and libido. (Which, by the way, the French see as no big deal.)

And now the frosting on this week’s cake:

The Wall Street journal yesterday dedicated two pages to the Do’s and Don’ts of Flirting.  In it, the [idiotic] writer prudently suggested, “don’t keep secrets from your partner. If you think your significant other would be appalled if he or she could overhear the conversation, then dial it back.”

Are you kidding me?!

I could methodically unbundle the cavalier totality of that sentence word by word and find a long list of societal sickness.  And the brutal impact on our malleable hearts regarding the beauty of true commitment.

Flirting is for singles and middle schoolers. (It’s also onomatopoetic.)

I know the power of flirting and I know the impact of someone who has a clear boundary against it.  It’s ridiculous now, but I went through a period of my life where I believed anyone could be lured by very tiny invitations through flirty comments or glances. What a fun game! But as we see in every segment of society, that game leads to all kinds of death and it is no laughing matter.

If we let them, our media will successfully manipulate our thinking to believe that sex is the most interesting part of the story. What if we cared more about the idea that we are all seeking true and meaningful relationship … and we fumble horribly along the way?  What if our media actually published more about our efforts to overcome weakness, and elevated the conversation about our efforts to heal the results of our own foolish behavior?  Just curious. Would you be interested?

Major W. Ian Thomas, another great military man said this: Whatever influence controls our mind and our emotions will ultimately control our will. 

It’s all connected.