547 Dr. Tiger and Mr. Woods
I’m not terribly surprised that Tiger had a mistress; after all he is used to winning just about anything he sets his mind to. What I am surprised by is that more of us don’t end up where he is.
Let’s be real, we all have our hang ups. It’s stinking hard to walk past every bakery, to put down that video game remote, to avoid all porn websites, to not put off today’s housework …like we did yesterday. We all find ourselves at times drinking too much, sleeping too much, lying too much, working too much …looking too much. The list is as endless as our human ability to underachieve.
But there’s another level of misbehaving. Obsessive, compulsive, addicting behaviors can take our shortcomings and transform them into full-blown monsters that reek havoc of all that is logical, moral and stable. All of us know we will go there if only we unleashed the dark side within.
Tiger seems to have thrown away his leash. Like a page out of Robert Lewis Stevenson’s book, the squeaky clean, consummate golfer, family man, Dr. Tiger shockingly often became the lying, cheating, sex-crazed, Mr. Woods.
I honestly believe Tiger hates that script every bit as much as his suffering wife. Not because he has lost all that is good within him but because he knows he hasn’t. Yet, somehow the virtuous Dr. Tiger continuously surrenders control to that monster Mr. Woods. He’s probably grateful the lid finally came off his insane dualism.
Enough speculating about Tiger; let’s get back to us. It bears repeating; you and I know that what happened to Tiger is just a handful of decisions away from happening to us. So why don’t we go that far, assuming we haven’t? Good versus evil; it always starts within the human soul, doesn’t it?
I’m not so arrogant or foolish as to think I can solve the problem of good and evil in this short column (or in this short life); however, I would like to make a suggestion that might strengthen the leash we have wrapped around the neck of the potential evil within us. Perhaps it all boils down to simply making one good decision after making another good decision.
At the risk of sounding trite or religious (both of which I loath), I think good decisions are the fruit of following the golden rules. Yes rules, plural. Allow me to quote Jesus. When asked what the most important rule in life was, Jesus gave two. “’Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself’” (See Matthew 22:34-40).
Jesus’ first rule acknowledges there’s something bigger than us, nobler than us, to guide us. If we limit our decision making to pure self talk we have only two advising voices: Dr. Good and Mr. Evil. We all know where those two can lead us.
Jesus’ second rule adds a key component to making good decisions. He doesn’t advice us to eliminate our needs and desires but to make sure we always consider other’s needs and desires as equal to our own. How simple and yet genius.
Neither Tiger Woods nor his mistresses would be where they are had they simply followed the Golden Rules. But a more practical question is; are we following the Golden Rules? I truly hope so because we all know where we just might end up if we don’t.
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