As of 2009, Tiger Woods was considered one of the greatest athletes in the world. He was winning in his chosen sport, golf, and in his personal life as a married man with a beautiful wife and two kids. Despite all the controversies surrounding his non acceptance of the "black" tag, Woods was still very respected in the black community and in the world as the richest athlete alive.
Then tragedy struck.
In 2009, the tabloids released videos and pictures of Tiger Woods's wife, Elin Nordegren, as she was assaulting Woods's car with a baseball bat. Woods was trying to escape from his furious wife who had temporarily lost her sanity due to to some serious findings she had made concerning her husband.
We would later come to know that Woods had cheated serially on his wife during the 5 years of their marriage, with mistresses, escorts and any woman who was available to lay with him. Woods had spent millions of dollars in hotel bills, as he would regularly lodge in to have his illicit affairs. It was speculated that Woods cheated with over 50 different women.
Even though Woods would admit that he was a sex addict and agree to go into rehab, it was clear that his marriage was over.
The divorce cost him $500,000,000.00.
After 2010, the only time we heard about Woods would be in relation to his sex addiction, his numerous mistresses and his horrible divorce. His career suffered, he lost endorsements and he was shunned by the society.
However a day ago, Woods won the Masters in what is described as the biggest come back in the history of sport, and is being spoken of in positive terms for the first time in ten years.
But is Tiger Woods's story really an inspirational story or is it just a case of a business person who made a terrible choice that almost cost him his career?
Last Sunday I wrote a post on why prosperity gospel is just rubbish and on what one should focus on, instead, if he or she wants to have a successful business. I mentioned talent/skill, attitude, opportunity, resources and luck as the key elements to achieving success.
Woods seemed to have had all of these at some point, since he did become successful, so what went wrong? Your talent/skill will remain as long as you keep practising. Once you have reached the height of your business, opportunities will come to you without your having to look for them, likewise resources, unless you make some really bad investments. Attitude and luck are the only things that are subject to change, with one of the two depending exclusively on you.
America forgave Bill Clinton when he confessed to have had an affair while acting as the POTUS. But Clinton is a white man. Woods is not. Even though Woods has always maintained that he is not black because he is also Asian, America sees him as a black man.
Woods was by all means a black man who was married to his trophy white woman who couldn't even respect the privilege he was given. The kind of man even the black community hates. There was no way his mistake would have been overlooked.
But when you are earning a ton of money and you are sitting among the big ones and getting invited to the white house, you might end up forgetting that you are still walking on eggshells.
What happened was that Woods slacked on his attitude and after many years he also ran out of luck.
It's not just enough for you to be good at what you do. You must also make sure that you can keep doing what you are good at.
You can't play golf if you are involved in a bitter divorce. You can't play golf if you have to keep giving interviews upon interviews to do damage control. You can't play golf if you are in a rehab centre. You can't play golf if nobody wants to see you playing golf.
In America, if you cheat, the norm is for your marriage to come to an end. And because you are the one who screwed things up, you will also be the person to release a huge chunk of your money to your ex spouse. Nordegren is not to blame. As far as the record goes, she was a good wife.
Woods is not worthy of emulation. He is just a businessman who experienced a set back because of his own shortcomings. The fault is entirely his.
His is not an extraordinary story. It is just a case of "No matter how high you climb, remember that you are still a black man in America, so always keep your attitude in check".
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