It happens: Someone we thought highly of turns out to be all too human. A teacher or leader in a community, someone we looked up to, gets called out and reacts poorly. Or the thing they did proves too big to let pass, or they show up being their problematic self again. They lose their crown. Their community turns on them. I don’t have just one story in mind.
Sometimes in this merry-go-round I play authority figure too, and what I notice is that my faults (and I have many) get magnified. Probably my main problem is my short temper. I snap at points of stress. I often owe someone an apology. Others have pointed out I duck publicity. I like being a big frog in a tiny pond. I solve the problem of being called out by staying too small to bother with.
I agree: When someone shows you who they are, pay attention. There are actions that communities rightly choose not to accept. Part of discernment is exclusion.
But I want a chance too for restorative justice, for navigating conflict and letting people change. I want a place for empathy and for seeing multiple sides of a narrative.
Because here on this edge of the wilderness, where we fight for a living future, there aren’t that many of us. I don’t want to lose all the people whose opinion I care about, just because they are human too.