Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was billed as one of those Motown stars who would rule the world. That was the impression I got the first time I saw the youngest mayor of Detroit speak.

I was sure that Mayor Kilpatrick would shine in Detroit and from there project his light across the vast land of the United States. Men, was I mistaken.

“The harder they come/ the harder they fall/ One and all,” sings Jimmy Cliff.

What disappoints some of us who still have the audacity to trust is that the things that bring down talented men like Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick are not complicated and vicious enemies. It is never about sex, money or power, though they may be a woman involved, a slush of cash and maybe influence peddling. When it is all said and done, it is just an inability to obey two rules. Just two.

Obey these two laws and there would never be obstruction of justice, abuse of public trust, misconduct in office or perjury.

These are the two simple rules for the mighty.

The first rule is “the higher you climb, the more your ass is showing.” Now, that was Trevor McDonald, a former ITN newscaster in Britain, who made the observation.

It simply says that what ordinal people like me may do and get away with it, famous people like Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick when they do it are trapped by it. It is the only law that balances life out. You get the fame, the fortune, and the adoration but you give up that right to be excused like ordinary people. In return for all the privileges that come with your place in life you get scrutinized for everything.

The second law is that now that you are famous and powerful, before you do anything, think of how it will look like tomorrow on the front page of your local newspaper. An ordinary person like me can pee on the roadside. If caught I will get a summon. But for the famous and the powerful, it could lead to their downfall.

These are just the two rules there ever are. Why it is very hard for the fortunate ones to live by them is often difficult to fathom.

Maybe these laws are too complicated and too vicious for them to follow. Maybe we should just stop trusting, stop hoping. Maybe that is how to end our series of disappointment.

But a society that stops hoping starts to die, incrementally.