James Hooker 41, Jordan Powers 18. Will this love last?

It would be awesome if you switched their last names,

If he is to be believed, he is not a pedophile. And since they didn’t even get involved superficially until she was 17, I wouldn’t call him a pedophile.

While the world looks critically at them, and I would not encourage an 18 year old girl to do the same thing, I think it is pretty judgmental for anyone to condemn them. She is old enough to make her own decisions. If they wed, he’ll be in the same trap as her.

As to the question, they are in love with each other.

I think age matters less now, however at aged 18 he would have been old fart material to me.

These names mean nothing to me, but I’m not about to get involved in the personal decisions of consenting adults. We all make sacrifices for the things that are important to us. For some, it’s trading a mate for a familiy member, for others it’s the other way around. I have no desire to judge people for the choices they make.

Once she was 18 she can legally make up her own mind… Look at Toni Randall and Heather Randall who married in 95, she was only 20 and he was 70… They were happily married until his death. I don’t remember anyone calling him a pedophile… A lot of this publicity is because her mother doesn’t like it.

I don’t feel the least bit compelled to speculate on the relationship issues of people so utterly unconnected to me. I stay out of the lives of people that I do know. I find my own life has enough going on to keep my attention. I know that I would probably be irritated to know that people were discussing my personal life as if it were business of theirs; certainly they wouldn’t have all the details, so they would be totally unqualified to make judgements.
People treat other peoples business as if it were a movie or soap opera, staged for their entertainment; to be discussed, dissected, judgement pronounced then dismissed.
This is someone’s life.

Who are these people?

One of my sisters (not the one who introduced me to Fluther) married a teacher her senior year in high school. She was 18 at the time and he was 37. This was 22 years ago and three children and one grandchild later they are still together. However, it has been a long tough road for them and they have had more than their share of major marital issues. Their marriage has almost come apart many, many times over the years and though things seem to have settled down, I don’t believe my sister ever has been or ever will be truly happy in the relationship.

Personal experience makes me think this is not a great idea for young Ms. Powers, especially considering this man was arrested for sexually assaulting a 17 year-old. Of course she is of age it is her call.

Perhaps they are soul mates. Age becomes a silly way of measuring oneself when standing next to a person that completes you.

T.J & Stephanie, didn’t see that one coming.

She is attracted to his aura of power. He is attracted to her for poontang, No, it will not last.

If he is really the type of person her mother thinks, no way. He already had one teen age lover/student, and will most likely tire of this one after a year or two, when she gets too old for him.

You always have to project to the future and think about this stuff. That’s why my age gap is 10 years. Old Balls!! Gross!

He used to be her teacher. He has been acting selfishly and not in the girl’s best interests. It is creepy. She doesn’t even look 18, more like 15.

She is attracted to his power and authority, while he is attracted to her youth and beauty. They have already broken up once over his past misconduct with former students, so the odds are against the relationship working out. That is an issue that can’t be easily dismissed or forgotten.

It is interesting that we the media educated masses, expect to be able to figure out what goes on in the hearts of strangers intrigues me.

This is something about women that I haven’t figure out yet. It is entertaining to watch, talk about, and muse about the relationship woes, predictions, and success of others even though they are strangers. I don’t think it is wrong, it is just…mysterious and foreign to me.

Hmmm…maybe a good fluther question in the future.

There is only 23 years between them and she is an adult. I don’t see anything wrong with this (especially as I am in a relationship with a similar age gap). I certainly don’t assume he is a pedophile seeing as, like I said, she is an adult. If they have given up everything they have to be together then I would assume they are in love and it’s not my place to judge or question anyone elses mutual love nor do I assume that either of them has an ulterior motive. Time will tell how strong this love is and they are not the first or last to be in an age gap relationship (nor is their age gap that extreme compared to others in the limelight).

I don’t know anything about these people, are they celebrities?