Hey did you hear that Tiger Woods cheated on his wife?
Just kidding, I’m sure you know that. It has only been all over the news for over 2 weeks now.
The repercussions have been him taking a break from golf, going underground and not addressing the media, dealing with a marriage that is surely going through it (Update: Elin wants a divorce some are saying), and getting dumped from 2 sponsorships (Gillette and Accenture). Accenture had this to say:
“Given the circumstances of the last two weeks…the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising.”
I’ve been in a lot of conversations where people have basically turned Tiger into the biggest sinner on the planet. I’m sure most of it comes from our sinful need to prop ourselves above others, but I’m not sure that makes it ok.
I wonder how Tiger got so high on our role model list…?
I applaud the fact that our society still believes that when people make poor decisions, there are consequences for this. But at the same time, was Tiger high on our list of celebrities because of his high character or because he is the best golfer ever?
I watch Tiger on tv because he is the greatest at his sport, and if I bought Nike golf supplies it would be because I want to use the same products as the best golfer, not because I look up to Tiger as a role model. I wish more celebrities understood that people are looking up to them, whether they like it or not…but why do we get mad at Tiger when he turns out to be human and not perfect? Is it really being fair to him?
We all love to turn people who excel in specific areas, and make lots of money for it, into role models. We desire to be as good as them, to the point that we look up to them in ways that are not healthy. The problem is that this isn’t fair to the person. They did nothing to have these outrageous expectations put on them.
If Tiger Woods has been our role model for the past 10 years, then I am confident in saying: We need new role models.
