Oh Tiger Woods

November, 2017

 

I have recently seen Tiger Woods’ mugshot on internet and what a shame!  This man used to have everything, money, fame, beautiful wife, cut kids, and caring parents.  Overnight, they disappeared.  He lost his greatness in golf, his wife divorced him, his health deteriorated, and the saddest part is, he could not pick himself up and take full responsibilities of what he did. He turned to drugs, heavy drinking, isolation, loneliness and self-pity.  To err is human.  We all go through life with periods of difficulty.  We are allowed to grieve, to get mad, to be depressed and even to do stupid things.  Nevertheless, once we let them out of our system, time to move on.

 A recent article published in ESPN.com suggested that “Tiger is facing the reckoning that all young and powerful men face, the end of that youth and power, and a future spent figuring out how those things might be mourned and possibly replaced”.  I disagree.  Tiger Woods is not old! He is only 41.  For a man it is just the beginning of life.  We have an old Chinese saying, “Man at his 40s, is like a flower just started to boom, whereas Woman at her 40s, is like a used tea bag, no more value”.  In theory, Tiger is at his peak.  Can he be a great golfer again, can he build a new family with another woman for a second time, can he be a good father once again to his children, can he regain his health, and importantly, can he be a Tiger Woods again?  If there is will, there is a way.  People do not say that because it sounds good, but because it is the absolute true!  

 People today still trying to figure out the causes of his failures. They even put the blame on Tiger’s father Earl.  At Tiger’s younger age, his father may have some influence on him, but once he reached adulthood, he was on his own.  So stop the blaming game.  Personally, I think money and fame have something to do with it.  When a person has too much money or fame, it is not a good thing.  Money can provide and can destroy as well.   Fame, is about power, too much of the power means obsession, life can get so complicated when you have both.  If I were Tiger Woods, I would disappear, forget his trouble for a moment and turn his focus to others, perhaps travel to faraway places where no one knows who he is. Return his life to basic and see how simple people live.  Maybe he will discover why the poor people manage to survive with so little, but they are happy.  Why a penniless climber is elated when he reaches a peak? Why a retiree is content watching sunrise and sunset every day.  Why a little boy enjoys catching fish in a creek and why a woman cries with joy when she sees her new born.  Those are things that Tiger Woods never had a chance to experience.   

 

Maybe he will find happiness again by living as Eldrick Tont Woods (he real name), instead of the famous Tiger Woods, even just one day.