Positions of public service are not like private arrangements. Responsibility for public welfare is prior to private welfare in public service, and therefore the resignation of public figures is public business. We have a right to know what is responsible for the resignation taking place.

Prominent, public resignations have become a common activity these days. It seems that every other news item lets us know that so and so has resigned, often for reasons that were not prominent prior to certain events. Of course there is nothing inherently wrong with resigning from a position, especially for healthy, logical reasons. But when a serving politician or public figure resigns amid specific events, we ought to be curious, and that curiosity ought to be satiated.

Resignation is an activity carried out by those holding a position; an action for which reasons are not always understood to the full. Resignation can be anything from an alternative to being fired, to a statement of dissent against policy, to a simple desire for change. Whatever resignation is, it does I suggest, come with a responsibility not to immediately resign, especially if it is harmful to public life.

In the political environment specifically, but also at times in the business and domestic environment, resignation is sometimes symptomatic of the continuation of an avoidable, corruptive process. It is sometimes the final piece of a jigsaw of hidden interest rather than a relatively meaningless change of position.

It is important in politics and public life especially, that we, the ones who are supposed to be being served by those who are resigning, are truly secure in believing that the reason for resignation falls more towards simple desire for change rather than avoidable, corruptive process. This is our responsibility to our politicians and public figures who might be resigning through non-public, corruptive processes. Our servants are our responsibility, not that of other parties. We owe them at least our curiosity.

As I mentioned, resignation can be anything from an alternative to being fired, to a statement of dissent against policy, to a simple desire for change. This means it could be an act of corruption, courage, wisdom or boredom. My concern is that acts of seeming courage, wisdom or boredom might mask corruption. This is why I posit that when a serving Politician or Public figure resigns amid specific events, we ought to be curious, and that curiosity ought to be satiated. Public welfare is prior to private welfare; resignation of public figures is public business.