THE DEAL
Painted bronze and wood, 2009, 32"x21"x10"
Annual college student surveys show a steady increase in the rate and acceptance of cheating. Twenty percent of college students admitted to cheating in high school during the 1940's, today between 75 and 98 percent admit to cheating.
Late in the 2008 primaries, I was emailed a photograph. It had been circulating through the internet since Hillary Clinton toured Iraq in 2003. In the picture, Clinton posed with a soldier in army fatigues. Both are smiling and shaking hands, but the middle finger of the soldier's left hand is crossed. Tracked down later by Snopes.com, he admitted that he had crossed his finger purposefully to indicated that "he was not a fan of the Senator's and was not as appreciative of having the opportunity to meet (and pose with) her as it might otherwise appear."
I cross my fingers anytime I feel in need of an extra bit of good luck or really, really, want something to come true. But seeing the photograph reminded me of my childish outrage when a neighbor boy tried to renege on a promise because he claimed it didn't count, he had crossed his fingers. Why didn’t neighbor boy, why didn’t the soldier just say no?
In this era of health care reform and partisan politics the art of compromise has been lost, trust has evaporated. We no longer know who is fudging the facts, who is crossing their fingers in hope, or who is crossing their fingers to free themselves of any obligation to honor the deal.