The news is littered with stories about Bill Cosby.  The beloved actor who many of us grew up laughing at is now being accused of horrible acts of violence.  Multiple women have come forward with claims that he forced himself on them.  Only them and Cosby really know what happened.

This post is not to condemn or exonerate Bill Cosby.  More than that, it is me thinking out loud about the conflict in my heart about this whole situation.  Here are some bullet point observations about my feelings.

• The general public has always thought Bill Cosby was a dad that we all wanted.  His most famous character, Mr. Huxtable, was funny, caring, strong, successful and the positive list goes on and on.  Bill’s comedy routines were always clean.  He made us LOL (before that was cool) without ever saying anything socially inappropriate.
•  When an accusation comes out against someone held in such high regard, my immediate response: “No! there is no way.”  My thoughts are that Bill Cosby is the guy that we have always known and the guy we have always known would never do something like that.  Then, when almost ten different women from different areas and time frames come out with similar stories, my brain and heart get really confused.  Really? Could this actually be true?  Could he have been doing that and then representing something completely different in public?
• If he didn’t commit these horrible acts, then why would all these women randomly say these things?  What benefit or motive do they have in coming out if it didn’t really happen.  Is it a conspiracy? Are they starving for attention and feel like they should jump on this bandwagon in order to get publicity?
• If he did commit these horrible acts, then what does that say about him as a person?  Does that mean he is a bad person? Yes, if he did it, then he is a bad person.  How much bad do we have to do before we are ‘bad people’?  More importantly what does it mean for all the good things he did?  What about all the positive things he did for the world through his comedy and philanthropy?
• How many good things would he have to do in order to pay for the immoral acts that he committed against these women? What would it take for the court of public opinion to accept him again?
• In a month or sooner, the news media will determine that the public is tired of this story and move on to another story.  Everyone remember that airliner that disappeared earlier this year and it was on the news every hour for a couple weeks.  They still haven’t found that plane, but we NEVER hear anything about it.  WHEN this happens: What does this “moving on” do the victims?  Are they validated and vindicated by his public ridicule? What should they do with the pain of the past when America moves on and Bill Cosby is either trashed or exonerated?

Have you had these thoughts or others?