It Could Be Innocent Or Not…

ABC reports on a story that leaves with a lot of questions:

A 16-year-old male former congressional page concerned about the appropriateness of an e-mail exchange with a congressman alerted Capitol Hill staffers to the communication…

In the series of e-mails, obtained by ABC News, from Rep. Foley (R-FL) to the former page, Foley asks the young man how old he is, what he wants for his birthday and requests a photo of him.

The concerned young man alerted congressional staffers to the e-mails. In one e-mail, the former page writes to a staffer, “Maybe it is just me being paranoid, but seriously. This freaked me out…”

The e-mails were sent from Foley’s personal AOL account, and the exchange began within weeks after the page finished his program on Capitol Hill. In one, Foley writes, “did you have fun at your conference…what do you want for your birthday coming up…what stuff do you like to do.”

In another Foley writes, “how are you weathering the hurricane…are you safe…send me an email pic of you as well…”

The young man forwarded that e-mail to a congressional staffer saying it was “sick sick sick sick sick.”

Foley’s office says it is their policy to keep pictures of former interns and anyone who may ask for a recommendation on file so they can remember them.

This one leaves me with decidedly mixed feelings. Let’s examine these questions. I don’t think they’re all that menacing and of themselves. But, this is the society we live in today. Where accusations can be brought on the flimsiest of evidence.

I was taking Andrea down for some volunteer work this morning and I was listening to Focus on the Family and Dr. Dobson was pushing the importance of men becoming involved in the lives of young men without fathers. While I thought it was a great idea, the thought that ran through my mind is, “How do you do that in today’s culture?” Taking an interest in a child’s life can put one in a position to get false accusations hurled at you. We make it very hard in today’s culture for those type of relationships to be formed.

But, there’s a reason for that. We’ve had many abuses of power with pages and interns. So, what a generation ago might be taken as fatherly instinct is taken as something far more pernicious. Kids in this generation have been taught not to mess around, but if you feel uncomfortable, let someone know. I don’t think the kid was out of line at all.

You throw in this mix that Foley has long been rumored to be a homosexual or bisexual and you’ve got a whole other element to this story, which would lend more creedance to the suggestion there was something not so innocent about this, but still wouldn’t prove anything.

Regardless Foley has learned a lesson that he’ll do well to remember: In 21st Century America, there are very firm boundaries drawn that you cannot cross without raising a few eyebrows in regards to interest in the lives of men and women.

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