I can count on one hand--and have fingers left--how many episodes of Jon & Kate Plus 8 I've actually watched. There's only so much one can view of a litter of brats being herded from one place to the next, before grabbing the remote to find some other form of pointless diversion!
  As has been shoved in the face of seemingly the entire planet, Jon and Kate's marital problems started bubbling over like the Clampetts' crude. The allegations of affairs on both ends, although denied by both, were never going to go away if the media had anything to say about it. Because modern media, like modern politics, assumes investigation is warranted, not because of the nature of the evidence...but because of the severity of the accusation.
  So it stood to reason that the god of ratings would demand a melodramatic spin for: The Announcement, the special episode of Jon & Kate that recently aired with the promise that said announcement would change their lives forever. The moody music and sad faces in the promos told you all you needed to know, and was a insult to everyone's intelligence who had been paying attention the whole time beforehand, as the entertainment media fell over each other to scoop the latest dose of marital misery on a public all too eager to consume it.
  It was that kind of stress that was blamed for the spanking Kate gave one of her daughters that was plastered all over several checkout rags, marked with horror-inducing headlines in big letters. Please...teleport back to my house in the 1970's and watch my hindquarters and a leather belt wear each other out...then we'll talk turkey! If I were directing the show, I'd air those kids getting spanked in every single episode, to show PC ninnies part of what a real parent is supposed to look like! But I digress...
  When they first said they were going to separate, I said to myself, "Ok, that might work...they can take the time apart to get themselves together and maybe work through their issues. At least it's not divorce." Alas, at the very end of the show, that late-breaking black screen appeared saying they had filed divorce papers. Because of that announcement and after this writing, I will no longer pay any mind to Jon and Kate.
  Monday's episode saw two flawed people realizing they were flawed after it was already too late(in their minds, not mine). When Kate was crying about how she didn't want to be alone in raising her children and doing the show, it smacked of someone who didn't get it. When Jon says he is "scared but excited about the next chapter", it sounded like a man who didn't want to. It's like Dr. Phil always says: no matter how flat you make a pancake, it always has two sides. I think they needed to pay him a visit before packing it in! Perhaps they still should.
  Though I believe instant fame accelerated their demise, it ultimately came down to two people who were unwilling to sacrifice the most expendable facets of themselves to truly become one. They talked a lot, at least in the limited amount of episodes I've seen, about working to be the kind of parents that God would have them be. Sadly, they did not care enough to hold their calling as one another's spouse up to that same standard. You do that first, and it then trickles down into good things for the kids.
  Claiming a Christ-centered existence in the public eye comes with a price if the talk isn't walked in as blameless a fashion as possible. This price is now being paid not only by two people claiming they didn't ask for it, but by Christendom in general who actually didn't. That is enough reason for me to walk away from the sad arithmetic of Jon & Kate Plus 8.