Harvey's Daze

Paul Simon, a boy from Queens, opened his classic song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with:

When you're weary, feeling small,

When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all

I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough

And friends just can't be found 

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down ...

Somehow I don't think Paul was thinking about, or singing about, another boy from Queens named Harvey Weinstein. The former movie mogul is on trial for rape and faces the very real possibility of life in prison.

The tragedy of his case is immense: he harrassed and rape women, then doubly victimimized them by using his power and money to keep them quiet, in some cases for decades. And now that his predatory behavior has been revealed for the entire world to grapple with, now that he is on trial for his life, Harvey is all alone. (Believe it or not, he still doesn't understand why the world is so mad at him, he is dazed by his downfall.)

His friends and most of his family have abandoned him. The business he used to rule has disavowed him. And his future will either be in a prison cell like Bernie Maddoff or a purgatorial life like OJ's. 

To me, that must be the worst thing: going to jail must be horrible but there has to be some well of mental and emotional stregnth you can draw on knowing that you have friends and family who love you and care about you. That in the outside world, there is someone who wants to give comfort, dry your tears, lay themselves down for you, who is your bridge over troubled water between jail and freedom.

Harvey doesn't have that. He never will. And that must be the worst fate he'll ever endure.