The Tiger Woods Media Feeding Frenzy

Isn’t it time for the sharks to retreat and leave Tiger Woods alone? Once the media gets the smell of blood in the water and a taste of flesh they just can’t put it down.

He messed up. Big time. He hurt his wife, his family, his career and, most of all, himself. He admitted it. Other stories have surfaced now and each one  creates more and more of a frenzy. I am reminded of the story in the Bible of Jesus defending the adulterous woman by saying, “Let he who has no sin cast the first stone.”  Everyone turned and walked away.(John 8:11)

Perhaps we should try that now. How many, if they were honest, would need to turn and walk away?

Unfortunately, adultery is not uncommon these days (or was it in any day?) We have seen these scandals over the years and they involved the most prestigious clergymen, priests, politicians, celebrities, and. yes, journalists, from all fields and many different countries. It happens among the not-sp-famous, too, but their transgressions don’t get splashed all over the front page of the newspapers and tabloids or used for the  lead story on the evening news. They destroy their families silently.

My bet is  that many men (and women) around the globe are feeling grateful that they have not been caught. Are the ones who are the loudest with this story the most guilty?  Does the line from Hamlet fit the media-accusers – “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 222–230 Is their own infidelity causing them to use Tiger as a whipping boy to deflect attention from their own indiscretions?

I am not defending Tiger Woods. I think what he did was absolutely wrong – also very human. I know the pain his wife feels because I was there once. The pain of deception is horrendous and she is probably  the one suffering most from all this negative publicity. It will take a long time for her to heal and the scars will most likely not go away. The children, when they grow older, will be able to read about their “unfaithful father” if they choose to do so and they will find many sources.  They don’t deserve that. I’m not saying the journalists should never print such news but enough is enough.

As a society we set  him up for disaster in a way. At the age of three he beat Bob Hope in a putting  contest and when he was five, he was featured on the television show That’s Incredible! At eight he won his first formal competition and from then on he won a series of trophies and broke records everywhere. He was almost a golf  legend by the time he entered college at age 19. Read more: Tiger Woods Biography – childhood, children, parents, name, history, mother, young, son, old, information, born, college, time, year http://www.notablebiographies.com/We-Z/Woods-Tiger.html#ixzz0ZO5PZbUG

When, in those younger years, did he have the opportunity to test his boundaries, to know the consequences of his actions,  and to pick himself up after failure and start over like most  of us do? I don’t know the answer to this but I do know that we all need to test our wings sometime in your life and we need the freedom to learn from our mistakes.Did he have the “privilege” of making mistakes and learning from them?

Fame brings with it great rewards and also great risks and multiple temptations. A man who is handsome, wealthy and famous is surrounded by beautiful women who don’t care if he is married. They don’t mind destroying his family. He is a target. Sometimes they hit the bulls-eye.

It is a glamorous but not an easy life.

So isn’t it time we back off and let him heal?

Has he learned his lesson? I don’t know.

Is he a human being who deserves forgiveness and a chance to make restitution? Absolutely.

Think about the mistakes you’ve made that were not made public knowledge. What would you want done for you right now?

Tiger and his family need some time and space for forgiveness and recuperation. The press and the gossip mongers should back off now and allow them to have that.

About Irene: Irene Conlan has a master's degree in nursing, with a major in nursing administration and a minor in psychiatric nursing. She taught nursing at Arizona State University, served as Director of Nursing Administration at St. Luke's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix and served as Assistant Director of the Arizona Department of Health Services for the Division of Health Care Facilities and Emergency Medical Services. She is also a certified hypnotherapist with a practice in Scottsdale, AZ. She is an avid blogger and manages http://www.theselfimprovementblog.com, http://www.theselfesteemblog.com, http://www.thepositivepsychologyblog.com Irene lives in Scottsdale AZ and has two sons and three grandsons.