Looking the other way.
I’ve been reading a lot of news lately and I’m very saddened by what has occurred following the arrest of Roman Polanski.
For those of you not familiar with the story, you can read the CNN article Hollywood Embraces Roman Polanski.
Essentially, the celebrated director was arrested in 1977 in the and tried for the rape of a 13-year old girl. He pleaded guilty but then fled from the U.S. before he could be charged.
Polanski then spent the next 3 decades living in France, making films, and apparently moving on with his life. His 2002 film “The Pianist” received much acclaim and he received an Oscar for Best Director.
Before I go on, please note that I am a very big fan of the movie “The Pianist”. I think it’s an incredibly personal and poignant look at World War II, and I think that Polanski is a very gifted director.
However, following his arrest, it seems that many find his talent justifies his disgusting behavior.
In the CNN article, many celebrities comment on how talented he is and how this series of events needs to be forgiven or moved past. The Polish and French governments are both asking for his release as well.
But this is not forgiveness. It’s looking the other way and allowing a crime to go unpunished.
Polanski raped a 13 year old girl, and no matter when it happened, he was arrested and plead guilty to the crime. He therefore needs to be punished. If we let him off easy because he’s talented, America is not sending the message that our legal system has any integrity.
Instead we’re sending the message that if you have a role in society where you are high profile enough or make enough of the right people happy then you can act however you want, free of consequences.
At the beginning of the CNN article Polanski’s friend Otto Weisser refers to the rape of Samantha Geimer as “a little mistake”. Whoopi Goldberg on “The View” tried to defend him by saying that “it wasn’t rape-rape”. (You can watch the clip here.) She tried to state that although he drugged her with quaaludes and champagne and then took advantage of her that it wasn’t rape, it was just sex.
Some have even started arguing that the case should be dropped because the victim herself no longer wants to see him prosecuted.
But isn’t rape still a crime?
And isn’t our legal system supposed to seek justice for people based not upon their title or role in society or bank account size but based solely upon justice?
Whether or not Roman Polanski committed the crime 3 decades ago or three minutes ago, he deserves to be punished for the crime he committed. And if he hadn’t committed any big crime (as some are trying to argue), then why flee the country and not return for 32 years?
It disgusts me that we live in a country where people want to so quickly overlook the rape of a minor just because the rapist has some sort of talent.
The Bible is clear that everything we do will eventually come to the light. Even the darkest secrets we seek to keep will eventually come out, either in this life or when we stand before Jesus one day and he calls us to account for all of our deeds. God’s love is bigger than you will ever know and he extends that love and forgiveness to everyone.
But the sins that we commit and the laws that we break have consequences here and now, whether we know God or not.
And it gives me great hope and strength to know that we serve a God who is just and who never changes nor wavers. No matter what you do, He still loves you. Does He have standards as for what’s sin and what is not? Absolutely. And does he make it very clear what is ok and what is not? Absolutely.
It gives me great peace to know that we serve a God who embodies integrity and makes his love and standards incredibly clear to us. His love or standards never change no matter how much money I make or how famous I may become.
I pray that He may teach me to have integrity in how I deal with others, and that He’ll show me how to avoid favoritism because it is so damaging to others and shows such a lack of integrity.
<Tim>
What do you think?