Tiger, Tiger

So the truth is out. The sad, ugly truth.

I am not referring to Tiger Woods having at least 10 affairs. I am referring to our reaction to this news.

Tiger Woods is not superhuman, despite our own efforts to make him so and to exalt him to a status of "squeaky clean." Truth is, not one of us is squeaky clean, but people's perception of us can easily be.

The real news story is not that Tiger Woods had affairs. It's that we're so surprised.

Women get cheated on every single day. Men do too. Infidelity is and has been a reality for centuries. Have we tricked ourselves into believing we have evolved? Why do we expect better or different now when . . .

- Our life expectancies have increased almost 40% in the last 100 years.
- Our medicine and health have improved - with plenty of drugs to help out with sex.
- Our media is SATURATED with sexual imagery and the objectification of women.
- Our values - especially marriage - are constantly changing.

The problem with marriage is not that it's more dysfunctional now. The problem is that we KNOW they are dysfunctional and we're settling for it. We don't work hard at marriage because we don't work hard at being sane and good single people either. Tiger Woods' issues are not with his marriage alone. They are with him.

And he had these problems long before he was a household name. Some say, he's just a dog. Well, if life were that simple, we would all sleep happier. Just stay away from dogs, and you'll be fine. Sorry.

No, Tiger is a man. A man is fallible. We already know this. Why are we so shocked, like he's the first guy to get caught cheating on his wife? People are saying "Oh no, why Tiger?" I say "Why not?"

Once again, being good at something wins our hearts and minds. Michael Jackson was a great performer and we loved him. But squeaky clean? Hmmmm . . . no.

Michael Richards made us laugh every week on Seinfeld. Squeaky clean Hmmmm . . . no.

Barack Obama has taken a position that will inspire generations of young people to believe anything is possible. Squeaky clean. Hmmmm . . . no.

Yet when each of these people find themselves in sticky situations, everyone is like "HUH? WHAT? WOOWWWW!!"

Question: When did people stop being people?
Answer: When we decided to worship them.

While I am not surprised at Tiger's infidelities, I do use it as a cautionary tale for myself. It reminds me of two old sayings:

1. Fame ain't all it's cracked up to be.
2. God don't like ugly.

That's my ugly, your ugly, and Tiger's ugly. Let's keep Tiger in our hearts and in our thoughts. He's still the exact same person we exalted to such high position in our culture. We just now see more of him. Does this make him less of a hero? I don't think so.

But let's not worship him, and worship someone/thing that truly is worthy.

- Funkyman (No not me!)