Fifth century Japanese warriors called it Hari Kari or Seppuku. When a samurai failed in his duty or disgraced himself or his benefactor, he was expected to atone for his dishonor by slicing his belly open and spilling his intestines. Roman and European nobles practiced a similar form of atonement by falling on their swords.

The common thread was shame. Not a blushing embarrassment, but the deep sense of having corrupted the portion of the soul that knows right from wrong and in the process violated a sacred social contract. In those days, if a man could not live honorably, the thinking went, it was possible at least to find dignity through an honorable death. At any rate, death was preferred to living with dishonor. 

I guess good swords are hard to find. Society no longer adheres to such rigid rules of conduct.  Leaders that disgrace themselves are no longer expected to run themselves through (This is probably a good thing, as the halls of Congress would no doubt soon run red with blood.).  Honor is cheap and our rather elastic notions of morality make shame little more than a shadow -- a ritual dance men must engage in before placing a call to their agent, who is busy negotiating book and film rights.

This ugly truth has never been clearer than in the case of former Florida Congressman Mark Foley.

Witness Inspiration as it happens. Watch Mike Thompson's film, "The Introduction" now.

The congressman resigned last week when it was revealed that he had been sending inappropriate and sexually suggestive text messages to underage congressional pages. The former co-chair of the Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children immediately headed to an alcohol rehabilitation center, claiming he has finally come to grips with a long-festering struggle with substance abuse. What remains unclear is how rehab is going to help when his poison of choice appears to be boys, not booze.

Through his attorney, Foley has also announced that he is gay and was molested by clergy as a teenager (No doubt the revelation that he was also impoverished is forthcoming.).

I am reminded of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey and his preening on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." When McGreevey resigned in disgrace in 2004 he announced, “I am a gay American." It is simply damnable that both these men indulge the fiction that their disgrace is due in any measure because they are homosexuals. It is not.

Both suffered ignoble political ends because they are men of little character, liars that betrayed the trust of their office and their constituents to say nothing of their loved ones. And rather than fall on their swords, McGreevey is making the rounds of the talk show circuit hawking a book, and Foley looks for sympathy by claiming addiction and abuse at the hands of unnamed Catholic clergy. Have they no shame?  No sharp instruments in the home?

The appeal to victimhood rather than honor is predictable. It is easier to make the case that one’s behavior is the result of circumstances beyond one’s control than to drink from the cup of integrity and swallow hard the punishment society deems fair. The plea of victimhood is a petition that one not be judged too harshly, and in a society that increasingly abhors judgment, we far too often acquiesce.

Ritual suicide may be too much for us to ask for in 2006, but it is not too much to ask that men have shame. Society must demand it not only of our political leaders, but of all citizens.  There can be no serious talk of dishonor when notions of honor are elastic, changing with the political winds, where shame is just the title of a song by Evelyn King. Dishonorable behavior will continue so long as men are not held to task and when sacrifice is not demanded. 

As for Mark Foley, we can only lament the fact that blood atonement has fallen out of fashion. At least the cutting of flesh would reveal a sincere repentance we could respect.