Erin McLean Saga: More Than What Meets the Eye

When one takes a mere passing interest in the saga of Erin McLean, the Knoxville mother of two whose husband shot to death a teenage high school student due to an affair between Erin and the boy, it is far too easy to dismiss the story as another example of a 'sex-crazed' young woman on the prowl.

There is much more here than what meets the eye.

Granted, there should be strict standards regulating teacher/student relationships, insuring that only the highest standards of professional conduct are followed. Parents have a right to know that when they send their children/teenagers to the nation's public schools they can reasonably expect that their young are protected from sexual predators.

In such cases the easiest thing to do is to throw the book at such persons, lock them up, and throw away the key. And if crimes are committed, that is, the victim is below the legal age of consent, then there is a debt that is owed to society, and such perpetrators should serve time.

Sean Powell, however, was 19 years of age, over the legal age of consent. Erin McLean broke no law. The thing that was broken was the professional standard of conduct between teachers and students.

Yet, it is obvious that the young woman is deeply troubled. Living with the knowledge that a young man is dead and that your husband has been charged with his murder, all because of your own behavior, is a heavy load to bear.

Shortly after Erin's move to Nashville she attempted suicide and spent some time in a medical facility. Her attempts to gain employment have been met with resistance in one form or another because of the baggage she carries from the tragic events surrounding her in Knoxville. She was fired from a job at a private school in Nashville because a few parents complained that she was 'attempting to seduce students.'

Was such a claim based upon actual evidence or upon nothing more than the hysteria produced by a previous incident that the parents read in the newspapers?

So far, we don't know.

Shortly after being fired from her teaching position in Nashville, Erin spent more time in a hospital suffering from emotional instability.

And then, suddenly and without warning, she disappears with her two sons. Sources close to the incident state that Erin climbed out of the back window of her parent's home in Nashville so that she could flee with her children undetected. Some say that she may be headed to California to meet up with a man she met on the Internet.

All of these behaviors are indications of a very deeply troubled young woman who needs long-term counseling and psycho-therapeutic medications.

A key question for modern American society is whether or not we feel such a person can be salvaged. Is she worth salvaging? Is it worth the time and effort to look beyond the symptomatic behaviors to the inner person and seek to know why this individual acts in this manner? Is a human life worth our time and effort to help?

Certainly Erin McLean holds the key to many of the answers. Others can help only to the degree that they are allowed. And Erin must decide if she wants help.