“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Today Tiger Woods finally broke his silence about his “transgressions” that have been revealed over the last few months. A lot will be said over the coming days and many will analyze his statements until we all are sufficiently sick of hearing about it.
But here is what I want to know…do Tiger’s words even really matter?
I mean what he did and what he will do in the future do not affect me in any way what so ever. Other than the fact that we now know he is not the person we thought him to be, what he is doing to fix his personal life means nothing to mine. To be honest if he never spoke or played golf again I am certain I would not lose one moment of sleep over it.
However, on hearing he was going to face the world – I along with millions of others – did stop what I was doing to listen to the man speak. Why I wonder did we all just do that?
Was I hoping to hear some scandalous details about his affairs? – Nope, I couldn’t care less.
Was I needing to know if he would be playing golf again? – I would be miffed if he was.
Or am I just another accident rubber-necking yahoo looking to see if I could see some carnage? – No sir…ok…maybe a little.
What I did find myself thinking during his press conference was that there was a part of me that wanted to know – could we admire this person again one day? Would we want our children to aspire to be like him?
I started this post with a well know adaptation of a popular bible verse. Not because I think we should forgive Tiger Woods or any other individual that breaks our collective, but because I think we owe it to ourselves to allow these people an opportunity to right their wrongs.
Tiger made a big mistake and hurt is family in a major way. Like it or not he has also hurt millions of people around the world who aspired to be like him. So now in addition to trying to heal his family he has an obligation to mend his relationship with his fans. That is part of the deal when you become a beloved public figure as he had. That part of fame comes with a pretty hefty price tag.
It is his to win or lose – we owe him nothing…except the opportunity to make us believe he is the man we thought he was again.
In this case I think I will watch and see what he does – off the course. If he is true to his word and he returns to his roots to find his “center” then I think I might do as he asked and “believe in him again.”