There is a never ending struggle between men and women to understand what makes the other tick. A few days ago I had a friend tell me that he thought all women were crazy, and he truly meant it. After hearing why he felt that way I could understand why he might think like that. But if women are crazy, what’s up with men, especially men of power?

By now we all know about the escapades of Arnold. And we hear about it all the time – men with power and prestige thinking that society’s basic mores do not apply to them. Osama Bin Laden’s hideaway was found to be a treasure trove of porn, not to mention the fact that he had several wives. Tiger Woods thought it was ok to dip his wick with a porn star while a married man with two children. Gary Hart and Donna Rice, John Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski  – and Arnold, well isn’t he just the icing on the cake. Not only does he lie to his family but he lies to the entire state of California. He conveniently waits to come clean until he is no longer in office, leaving with a dismal approval rating in the low 20’s and with no chance of ever being taken seriously as a politician again. That was really big of him. And what was the point of coming clean now – to humiliate Maria and his children? Or maybe it was because his housekeeper/sex partner was finding it harder and harder to keep her mouth shut. You have to wonder.

I just don’t get it. Why does this happen over and over again with men of power? Don’t get me wrong, I love men – always have. When I was younger I felt more comfortable around men than women. Some of my best friends are men. In my estimation it would be a pretty boring life without men. But men have one serious issue that can plague them beginning with puberty and lasting through the rest of their lives –  and that is the dangerous cocktail of testosterone and their appendage. Most men learn to manage that perfect storm very well, but others, and it seems like over and over again especially men with power, feel it is their God given right to do what they want to do, when they want to do it and with whomever they want to do it with. Will the ever learn that they are not above it all? I somehow doubt it.

But, I think Pete the Greek had the answer to solving this dilemma. Pete the Greek was a drinking buddy of my husband’s. You could always count on Pete the Greek to be sitting at the bar of our local tavern holding court and spouting pearls of wisdom regarding just about any subject imaginable. One day, after the Gary Hart sex scandal broke Pete was sitting drinking a beer and bemoaning the demise of another powerful man. Out of nowhere he said to my husband, “You know Nick. Men are born with a deadly curse, their dicks. It is the source of all of their troubles throughout their lives. I was just thinking, maybe instead of circumcising us at birth they should just cut it off. It would save us and a lot of other people we know from a whole lot of agony and grief. And think about it.  We could go on with the rest of our lives, just drinking beer and watching sports. We would be a lot happier and our lives would be a hell of a lot less complicated.”  Socrates could not have said it better.