When I look back at 2015 a lot of us had some very tough moments. Like me, you may have lost a loved one. Maybe you had an illness, suffered financial loss or experienced a blow in your personal life.
Many things that happen are out of our control but even then at some point there comes a time when we have a say on how we manage a crisis in our lives. Even when we are at fault when things go wrong, it is best to admit our part in it and look for ways to begin healing the situation, especially when others are being hurt. That brings me to one of the most high-profile events of 2015: the charges and arrest of Bill Cosby.
While everyone deserves their day in court, if Bill Cosby has done the things he admitted in a 2005 deposition —having sex with women while they were under the influence of quaaludes — not pleading guilty will prolong the inevitable.
I don’t say this because I think a 78-year-old African-American icon serving 10 years in prison is a good solution. I say it because between the two options, pleading guilty will bring the least amount of shame to Camille Cosby, their children and grandchildren.
More than 50 women have accused him of allegedly sexually assaulting them after being given drugs or alcohol. Also, he was recently charged with aggravated indecent assault in Pennsylvania over an incident from 2004. Despite the charges and accusations, his lawyers maintain that he is not guilty and will not consider a plea bargain. This opens the door to his case going to trial and allowing even more damaging testimony. It will be a media circus bigger than the ones we’ve seen in the past involving O.J. and Michael Jackson simply because there was no social media when those trials took place. A Cosby trial will be an epic media feeding frenzy.
I know what you’re saying; he may not be guilty of all or most of the things he’s accused of. But if he’s guilty of any of it, what does he really gain by continuing to allow this public spectacle to go forth.
Preserve whatever dignity you have left, Mr. Cosby.
