“People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” 

~ English Idiom

We don’t know Paula Deen, the noted Southern chef. We have eaten at her Savannah restaurant. The food was no better or no worse than many Southern restaurants.

Deen, in a court deposition for a sexual harassment and racial discrimination lawsuit on working conditions at the restaurant operated by her brother, recently admitted that in her life, she had used a term that would offend people of a different race; she went on to say that she regretted that and later apologized for those remarks.

We are sure that most people who are reading this, regardless if you are white or black, have said something disparaging about someone else at one time or another in your life. If you are like most people, you regret those thoughts or statements now.

Nobody is born with all the answers. You grow as you go through life and you change your opinions as you learn more. Our Founding Fathers knew that and knew the key to a stronger nation was leaving the door open to pursuing a more perfect union. Likewise, the key to a better community is allowing people to change their minds.

Unless there is some video or other evidence that we haven’t seen, the reaction of companies like Walmart and the Food Network in regards to Deen’s past statements are being driven by people who apparently have lived a perfect life.

To be clear, the remarks Paula Deen made years ago were wrong and hurtful. But to have her life dragged through the mud by political and religious hypocrites is also wrong. The people who believe there is such a thing as forgiveness should step up and shut those hypocrites down.