There was a close up of a single tear rolling down Phil’s cheek as he hugged his wife Amy after winning his third Masters of his career. The media loves this stuff. I love this stuff. When a child gets hit by a car, we rush to ask if she looked both ways first. We need to find reason why good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. We want to find pattern, cause and effect as we hope this will protect us from reckless tragedy. If we behave well won’t we have a good life?
Tiger played well if somewhat erratic. There were close ups of him leaving the Master’s alone after- in his words-‘it was God awful’ and “unsuccessful”. He played better when he was the serial dater trying to have every meal at Denny’s.
In contrast, dimple faced and slightly man boobed Phil, hugged his darling wife to the point that I almost cried. Public un self conscious intimacy is the antithesis of branding.Unless it is branding and I can’t stand that thought. Losing your ‘cool’ in a very restrained sport can be lovely. Is this a man with temptation who rises above it? Does he love his wife more than anything in the world, but fancy tattooed women just to round out his appetite? Is he the good and kind and a gifted golfer? Does he have everything one could dream of wanting in his family or does he need the darkness of the forbidden?
In describing his wife, who has been battling cancer these last 11 months, he said “It means a lot to share some joy together. She is an incredible wife, an incredible mother, and she’s been an inspiration to me”. Did he play with a heavy heart needing his “jubilation” or should he have been playing golf at all while his wife was in bed all week and barely made it to the 18th hole to see the win?
We need to be productive when life is good to us and we must be productive when life is hard. We look for poetry in life when it is tricky to hang on to anything anymore. Those in the public eye are inadvertently asked to to give what may be missing in the world; hope, love, truth, dedication, loyalty and hard earned success.Tiger has always been beautiful to watch play golf the same way anything pressed and flawless is awe inspiring. It’s perfection stands apart from us and away from us. But real beauty lies in the human connection that we have and that we make- we never made that connection to Tiger- he was above reproach, never generous with his fans and ultimately unavailable. That is his right as it is anyone’s. But when he falls down so cartoonishly it is too late for us to connect with him. He cannot ask it of us now.
And Buddha? Well, he can be a fickle guy who may not think wearing a bracelet is redemption enough.
It is a tough one trying to believe in people based on what we want to see in them. Sometimes we set ourselves up for disappointment not knowing how they will perform under scrutiny.-thank you for taking the time to read and comment
Nancy: You have captured the human spirit perfectly. This is well done, not judgemental but objective. A lesson for all of us who strive to be good at anything. Bitsy