We buried my father three months ago. A respectable man. Deacon. Community leader. Married to my mother for 38 years. At the funeral, a woman showed up with three children. The oldest is 24. The youngest is 14. They called my father "Daddy." My mother collapsed. The will was read last week. He left them a house. He left us the family home. He split his pensions. My mother is destroyed. Not by the money, but by the lie. She spent 38 years faithful to a man who had another life. The church is saying we should forgive to protect his legacy. Protect what? A double life? This has shattered my view of marriage. If a deacon can do this, who can you trust? Is monogamy a myth we perform for society while living different truths? And should we protect the dead's reputation at the expense of the living's pain?
