Letters to the Editor
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Other people's thoughts
"And I forgive him for reading it. It would have taken Gandhi or Mother Teresa to turn away from such a document."
I know my girlfriend keeps a journal, I know where it is, and I could easily read it pretty much whenever I want. Of course I don't, because (a) I respect her right to privacy and (b) I have enough trust in our relationship to be confident that the feelings she shares with me are honest.
On occasion I have access to co-workers' private emails. I don't read those either. Again, simply because I respect their rights to privacy. (Then again, I probably don't want to know that much about their personal lives.)
What I'm trying to say is that I don't think the obvious temptation to read private material in any way excuses the action. Infidelity is mighty tempting to a lot of people, too.
And I think it's sad to have to keep your private thoughts locked up from a loved one. If that's what it takes, then that's what it takes. I just hope it's a stopgap rather than a permanent solution, and in the interim her husband learns to respect consciously the limitations on what percentage of her brain he's allowed access to.