Nuclear Fallout

Nuclear fallout is a bad thing. We are seeing some of the issues in the news stroy of Alexander Litvinenko the ex-KGB spy. The topic of this post is a different kind of "nuclear fallout". It is the fallout due to moral failure.

Having worked in the nuclear power field while in the Navy, I know a little bit about nuclear fallout. Nuclear Fallout is contamination from a nuclear incident that can have wide sweeping effects. The contaminated particles can land anywhere, and if not "cleaned up" can pose a significant health risk. To "clean up" nuclear contamination is to collect enough of the particles so that the radiation levels are below the "accepted" limits. It is extremely difficult to remove all of the particles, and in reality it is not necessary to do so.

The fallout due to moral failure is very similar. You don't know for sure where it will land. It can spread much wider than expected, and it really can't be completely cleaned up. Lives are affected, and the damage may heal, but will probably never go completely away.

This past weekend was a tough one for me. I had to deal with the fallout of moral failures of two men for whom I have a lot of respect. It is hard to say have, but in one case I do still have respect for him, the other, it's a little harder.

You see the one probably committed the "worst offence", but he admitted his failure, and is dealing with his consequences. Even though his failure will probably ruin his and his families lives, he has accepted it. I respect him for that.

The other appears to not have done that. He continues in his failure. His failure is "socially acceptable", while the others is not. The fallout from both of these failures is and will be far reaching. We will not be able to clean them up completely, but with time the cleanup will hopefully be good enough.