Ta-Nehisi Coates is, in my estimation, an inconsistent writer. He can be very good or very bad. That said, in the middle of a piece about violence he inserts the following bit about fidelity. I think he gets it right.
I’ve been with my spouse for almost 15 years. In those years, I’ve never been with anyone but the mother of my son. But that’s not because I am an especially good and true person. In fact, I am wholly in possession of an unimaginably filthy and mongrel mind. But I am also a dude who believes in guard-rails, as a buddy of mine once put it. I don’t believe in getting “in the moment” and then exercising will-power. I believe in avoiding “the moment.” I believe in being absolutely clear with myself about why I am having a second drink, and why I am not; why I am going to a party, and why I am not. I believe that the battle is lost at Happy Hour, not at the hotel. I am not a “good man.” But I am prepared to be an honorable one.
The good men among us can ignore this. Everyone else should pay attention.
Yes, I loved that paragraph. He nailed it.