The Cos

I'm sad about the Cos.

Real sad.

He was hip and cool when I was growing up.  His comedy about growing up with his brother and the mystery of kids and parents and enduring in the world created not just empathy but a sense of common ground.

At some point, I heard a rumor or two, but they didn't affect me and he was the Cos.   Cool and avuncular.

Rumors get forgotten and then all of a sudden they get uncovered and thrown into daylight again.   But as more voices speak up, a pattern emerges.  And the avuncular man who showed us common ground and the understandings of that common ground becomes both tawdry and corrupted.

The pattern of voices is too large to ignore.  And while my path never crossed his, my experience has intersected with the women's voices saying "He did this thing to me."  and I know they're honest voices speaking, too.   There is a point where settlements and statutes of limitations expire and the sordid reality is finally revealed.

I'm sad that one of my beloved icons turned out to be unworthy.   At my age, I know can't dispense with the lessons I learned from feeling elements of common ground or intersectionality (which is a kind of new concept I'm learning about at 60).  The lessons learned are in my bones at this point.  On the other hand, it sucks that he turned out to be so much less.