Mark Jackson's next sermon

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OAKLAND -- Mark Jackson has himself a grand sermon for the next time he is on pulpit duty. And the lesson is, "What Goes Around Comes Around; It's All In What You Do When It Arrives."Jackson has released information about an extortion attempt over an affair he had six years ago with a stripper named Alexis Adams. Adams and her alleged co-conspirator, Marcus Shaw, have been arrested for threatening torelease information of the affair, including audio and photos.RELATED: Jackson confirms extortion attempt; Warriors stand by their coach
Jackson, who acknowledges the affair and also that he paid 5,000 at the time for the recording and photos that he later destroyed, was approached later by Shaw, claiming to be in the reputation management business, demanding a six-figure payment to prevent the information from being released to the media.Or, as The Smoking Gun quoted the document, 'the vultures of the media.'Only Jackson did the one thing that seemingly honest folks do when confronted by a squeeze. He contacted the FBI, which worked with Jackson to get recordings of the threats and arrested the two. And then he released the information to the "vultures" acknowledging his wrongdoing ahead of time.Ahh, the truth, forthrightly delivered. What a notion.What we seem to have here is a man making a profound marital error, owning up to it both to his wife (at the time, which resulted in a reconciliation) and then to the media when confronted by it. No spinning or prevarication, as far as we know, no misdirection or misplaced anger. On the assumption that he is being square with this story (and yes, we>have to use disclaimers even for men of the cloth), this was the best and only real way to handle it.Now if Jackson is not being square, his reputation is shredded, because America has a low tolerance for those who purport to stand on the higher moral plane residing south of that standard. But if he is, he can, and>probably will, stand before his flock and face the music knowing if nothing else that whatever he receives either in support or reproval will be accepted with a clear conscience and the knowledge that he has tried to make his failing right.And a clear conscience produced by making sincere amends is a highly underrated commodity.Ray Ratto is a columnist forCSNBayArea.com

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