Like all of us, I've had many roles in life. Husband, father, son, brother and uncle. State Capitol reporter and valiant fighter for the people's right to know what their legislators are doing. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that last bit). Former third base coach for a Mt. Lebanon girls softball team (when my daughter was younger). Ex-elder at a Mt. Lebo Presbyterian church.

But I have one new role that no one knows about, not even my family. I call it "president of the Society for the On-going Protection of the Toms.'' I am, of course, talking about rebutting unfair criticism lodged against men with the name of Thomas, Tom, Thom, Tommy, Tomaso, etc.

Nobody knows about my new role because I just dreamed it up. It's patterned, sort of, after the Jim Smith Society, which is a real group composed of guys named Jim Smith.

Why create a group to protect guys named Tom? Well, I regret to say it's because of a headline I saw on a news story that appeared on the Web site run by none other than my own employer, the Post-Gazette.

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Some teenage bozo got himself arrested for spying on girls in a shower and the PG headline screamed, "Peeping Tom Arrested.'' That pushed me over the edge. After 60 years of hearing and reading that disgusting term Peeping Tom, I can't take it anymore.

I've turned into that lovable lunatic who screamed in the 1976 movie "Network": "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it any more.'' According to some incredibly in-depth research that I did (I love Google), both Ask Yahoo! and alphadictionary.com say the term Peeping Tom comes from the legend of Lady Godiva, who is supposed to have ridden naked through the streets of Coventry, England.

With only her long hair to cover her, she made the ride to protest the "oppressive taxation of the townspeople'' (as Yahoo puts it) that was put into place by none other than her husband, the lord of Coventry. (Let's hope that Kevin Joyce, a leader of the Allegheny County drink tax opponents, doesn't adopt the lady's tactic.)

Before the ride, Yahoo relates, Lady Godiva had asked the townspeople to stay inside their houses so they wouldn't see her in her birthday suit. But according to the story, one man -- Tom the tailor, wouldn't you know? -- drilled a hole in his window shutters to catch a glimpse of her beauty. "Peeping Tom,'' as he became known, was struck blind (or some say dead) the moment he saw her.

Lady Godiva was a real 11th-century noblewoman, the Yahoo account says, but her naked ride may be fiction. And Peeping Tom didn't even get added to the tale until 600 years later! Why couldn't they just leave a good story alone?

"Peeping Tom has himself become a legend, though for less than noble reasons,'' Yahoo says.

Yeah, well, he sure loused things up for the rest of us Toms.

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But there is another injurious name that has helped to send me around the bend: "Doubting Thomas.'' As a Christian, it's kind of hard for me to say this, but I think that Thomas, one of Jesus' 12 original disciples, got a bad rap.

As related in the 20th chapter of John's gospel (New International Version), Thomas refused to believe the other disciples when they told him that Jesus had risen from the dead and remained alive. The other disciples insisted it was true because they had seen him at a post-resurrection gathering, one that Thomas didn't attend.

Thomas insisted he wouldn't believe Christ was alive "unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hands into His side.'' Then, according to the book of John, Jesus walked into the room where Thomas and the other disciples were gathered. Thomas felt the nail marks and said, "My Lord and my God!'' Jesus told Thomas, "Stop doubting and believe.''

I don't think that Thomas should be blamed for being a bit skeptical when he's told that a man had come back to life after dying an agonizing death on the cross. It isn't the easiest thing to accept that someone has risen from the grave if you haven't actually seen the person.

But for the last 2,000 years, someone who doesn't automatically believe that something has occurred has been labeled a "doubting Thomas.'' Well, as a newspaper reporter for 34 years, I've been told a whole lot of stories that haven't panned out as true. I'm skeptical about a lot of things -- especially a lot of the ideas that come out of Harrisburg -- but I don't think that's a bad thing. There's no sense being naive.

And please don't call me a Doubting Thomas.

Oh, by the way, to all you Toms out there -- and I know our numbers are dwindling; Thomas was the 8th most popular boy's name in the 1950s but now it's 51st! -- this society president gig is good for only a year, so let me know if you're interested in taking over.