Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

I’ve lived in a myriad of places, and many of them have been in Illinois: Chicago (more than once), Palatine, Arlington Heights, Wheeling, Libertyville. So while I wasn’t born in the Land of Lincoln, I have considerable attachment to it. Which is why I am saddened by the national attention the state has incurred this week because of its Governor Rod Blagojevich and his alleged “Pay to Play” scandal. It’s not the attention itself that saddens me; it’s the details of the case.

Anybody and everybody can read of the scandal in newspapers and view it on television. It will be headline news for days, maybe weeks, to come. Even my hairdresser, whom I visited today, had an opinion about the state that has been described as a contender for the title of “Most Corrupt.”

I can only hope that from this morass the general public might consider requiring higher standards of its politicians. In addition, that same public might require higher standards of itself, because I think the moral fabric of our leaders mirrors the moral fabric of the general constituency. Maybe we all need to review what ethical behavior means.