It’s been a little over a month since Eliot Spitzer resigned and while the topic seems to have died down in the press, I’m sure the effects are still lingering in the Spitzer household and especially in the hearts of his wife and teenage daughters. As a teenage daughter myself, I realized not a lot has been written about what effect this must be having on his girls and I thought maybe its time somebody brought up the subject.
Similar to Eliot Spitzer’s girls (who go to Horace Mann), I go to a small private school where all the students have a pretty good connection with their teachers. I can’t imagine what it would be like for me to come into school, day after day, and face my teachers with them knowing something like that about my father. Just thinking about it makes me feel weird. I think if I was in that situation, every time I interacted with my teachers whether it’s to talk about a history paper or my recent math test, I would be envisioning them envisioning the news about my father like headlines in the bubble of a cartoon character. I would be imagining them imagining the television news clips, the internet articles, and the front page pictures of my father and of Ashley Dupre on the covers of everything from the New York Times to the New York Post to New York Magazine. Suddenly New York would feel very small.
Moving on from school and teachers, let’s talk about something as basic as bringing friends home. What are the Spitzer girls doing? As a sixteen year old, I have to admit I like spending a lot of time with my friends both in and outside of school. I especially enjoy inviting my friends over to my house. If my dad was involved in this type of scandal, it could make a normal routine of inviting my friends over pretty awkward. Would my friends run away from my dad? Would their parents even be warning them that he might be looking at them the wrong way and that they should watch out? I mean how strange would that be?
The final blow I think would be the way the Spitzer girls might end up viewing guys because of this whole thing. I know my father impacts how I view boys my own age. As many people have stated, in a sense, a father is a daughter’s first love; an example of how your father treats your mom and even you is often how you come to expect guys to treat you later on. How do you deal with it when your father breaks your mother’s heart, and yours too, when you are so young? I wonder.
When I asked my father about the whole thing, his comment was typical for him. Compassionate but also optimistic. He said that while it hurts him to imagine what Eliot Spitzer’s girls are going through, he also thinks its encouraging to see how resilient young women from successful families can be. The person he pointed to as an example of this: Chelsea Clinton.
13 comments:
Yea seriously Alex. Imagine how they feel everyday knowing that everyone who looks at them now knows the inner workings and extremely private intracasies of their family. Really good point. Everyone should feel for them. One of the two people they trusted most in their life has betrayed that trust. I cannot imagine the way that must feel.. lets be thankful that we have the parents that we do :)
For someone in their teens, what an empathetic, judicious viewpoint. With that kind of insight, you must have a great mother as well! :)
I'm curious to see see what will happen to the daughters
Wonderful insight Alex--I loved your insights about how they will view men as a result of the scandal. I also loved a look into what their everyday life might appear like now.
Interesting, have you thought that possibly this "family" is a dysfunctional family from the start and is simply held together by the power of the office! we will see what happens now that the office does not exist. We have seen this with other powerful families.
I disagree with the comment... thinking that this family was held together by the power of the "office". The office has nothing to do with the fact that Mr Spitzer committed "adultery" and how his actions have hurt/destroyed his relationship with his wife and daughters. These two young ladies and their very successful mother will do fine without the "office" in their life. Let's just offer a small prayer that they stay strong during this difficult family time.
It is incredible how one persons misstep can negatively impact so many other lives around him.
You are absolutely right Alex! It is horrible to have something like that happen to your family. Especially if your a child or even a teenager. I could not imagine how that must make them feel. That their father would betray their mother, betray them! I agree when you said that you could imagine the teachers thinking about the articles written and the comments said.
Thanks for all the comments! I'm loving everyone's feedback!
Alex, Your comments are indeeed very insightful and especially sensitive to Spitzer's children. Spitzer's conduct unfortunately is a symptom of a much larger problem than adultery. I suspect that he suffers from some form of mental/emotional illness that has probably remained ignored and untreated for many years. This type of illness effects millions who appear to be normal functioning people- even people who function extremely well in their chosen professions. Left untreated, as most mental illness appears to be, eventually destroys people and, as with the Spitser family, harms those who love the troubled individual the most. Many people (probably including Spitzer) believe there is a stigma or embarrassment associated with seeking help for their non-physical ailments. They sacrifice their own well being and subject their family - like Spitzer- to harm in order to avoid that embarrassment and, therefore, the problem grows and perpetuates itself. There has to be more public awareness and edcuation about mental health issues and the availability of treatmenmt. Perhaps if someone tried to direct Elliot to help before he harmed his family, all of this could have been avoided. I am sure that if his leg was broken- as compared to his mind- he would have had it fixed.!
Great post Alex. Keep up the good work.
i completely agree. not only does every person have a personal reputation, but a family one as well. And especially in a huge scandal such as this it probably does not only effect peoples' view of the family, but the way that they treat them as well. Especially at a young age his daughters now have the emotional struggle not only with their father, but with their everyday lives as if being a teenager wasn't already difficult enough.
Dear Alex,
Thank you so much for asking for my opinion as a journalist – I feel very honoured …
I apologize that I wasn’t able to find the time earlier to answer you.
franco told you what happend, then we moved into the new house …but now I have had the time to read over your article: I think you are on the way to becoming a great journalist.
The most important thing – in my opinion – is, that your are not only able to write with style, but you are able to be curious… curious about facts, about feelings.
it is also important that you have a special point of view: I found your perspective very interesting and special. You are a young lady, you read all the news about this man and know about his daughters…so you found a new key to enter this story and you found a new way to look at this sad story…yet another story about a successful man who destroyed his career having sex with a much younger girl …this really is a never ending story…I remember clinton, other politicians in europe, even in history you will find this kind of story.
But with your point of view you found a way to touch the heart of the readers, because you put yourself in the daughters place. And so every woman can feel with you, because every woman is also a daughter…so you found a very interesting way to grab the attention of the readers.
Having done thorough research is another fundamental skill in being a great journalist - which you have as I gained a lot of information about the spitzer girls.
Have you already chosen where you will study? I wish you meet the right people, people that can guide you in becoming the great journalist I think you could be.
I hope I will be reading some of your work before they give you the Pulitzer!
Thanks for the honour of being your reader, keep in touch,
greetings from Capri,
Stefanie Sonnentag
Thanks for all the comments, I love hearing what everyone has to say!
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