Tiger, Morality and Life

Everyone is talking about Tiger Woods’ comeback yesterday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. For the first time since 2009, Tiger looks like he’s got game again.
For all of us who watched him climb to glory, a young man seemingly unstoppable in his rise to the top, the revelation about his extramarital and extra-golf issues was more than a crushing blow. It made us wince to know that the whole time he was winning on the course, the whole time we were cheering him on, he was leading a very questionable lifestyle.
He was letting everyone down the whole time, even though we didn’t know it. And when it was made clear, people, including myself, felt betrayed, to say nothing of his wife or family.
People denounced his behavior, abandoned their ‘Tiger Fever’ for other players with potential, and turned their backs on him.
The rising star fell like wormwood.
Nevertheless, it's important that we are aware of this arc in his life, because in so many ways it resembles something that we each deal with in our own lives every day. It illustrates a journey we all must face.
Tiger Woods is a representation of a man finding his purpose, using his natural talents and working very hard to be good at something. It should be this way with everyone. Our purpose here, at least in part, is to discover what we can contribute to this world. Some become presidents, and some become teachers. All of us, regardless of calling, have a chance to do something in our lives which makes a difference to the rest of the world.
But more so than this, Tiger is a representation of what happens if we lose sight of our purpose and calling. No one argues that he let everyone down. Everyone including himself.
So when we are tempted to become skeptical, to abandon him, for ‘moral’ reasons, it’s important to look at things from a more subjective point of view. I thought specifically of how it would seem to folks if my demons were revealed to the world. All of us have them, and in some ways distancing ourselves from those who’ve been exposed is a nod at that fact. I’m slightly amused by the fact that regardless of our own issues, we so quickly cast aside these heroes like Tiger, who are revealed as having major problems. Aren’t we all basically the same?
Tiger has gotten back to what matters to him. He’s gone through a real rough patch in playing golf, and in life. He’s had to face his demons, get help and get started again. At long last he’s coming back. It’s hard not to get excited to see him play like this. We all know what he can do.
What we must do is spend less time judging him, face our own demons, as he has done, and get back to the game of life.
Tiger is nothing if not hardworking. He’s the example of what talent and hard work can do. Each of us has this same truth in our own lives regardless of where the talent lies or how hard it is to get the work done.
If our heads are not right, we cannot accomplish the goals that we have set for ourselves. More than just a lightning rod on the golf course, Tiger draws in stark lines what it means to lose sight of our gifts and succumb to addiction, flaws and personality disorders.
Whatever our own personal issues may be, we can look at Tiger and know that we can break free, if we face them, get by them and then get back to the work of being who we are supposed to be.