Last night, Anderson Cooper interviewed the husbands and a sister of the two US female journalists imprisoned in North Korea. The two women have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.
What struck me as wierd were statements by Iain Clayton, husband of Laura Ling. Rather than expressing concern for his wife, he kept bringing it to himself, as if he was the one suffering.
- He said he couldn't imagine going through the next 12 years without his wife, that it'll be very hard for him. He said nothing about what those 12 years mean to Laura.
- He said his fifth anniversary is coming up, and he doesn't look forward to spending it alone. He said nothing about how Laura will spend their fifth anniversary.
Iain: it's not about you.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
But it is also about him. He is experience a normal grief process over his loss of his wife.
Without question, his wife's loss and hardship is greater than his. And definitely is comes across as self-centered during an interview. Bad PR on his part. But it's to be expected the guy is hurting and many not be able to spin his feelings in a politically correct way.
Considering what he's going through, that he "may not be able to spin his feelings n a politically correct way" is a totally fair comment (whoever you are). Nicely said.