LloydMarcus.com
Posted on 12/14/2009 8:36:17 AM PST by Lloyd Marcus
Thanks to my wife who has this thing about not getting rid of books, I stumbled across a book I read years ago in my youth, “The Hiding Place” by Corrie ten Boom. The book chronicles the horrible experiences of Corrie and her family imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps. The epic cruelty and man's inhumanity to man is breathtakingly unbelievable. Due to the brutality, extreme exposure, malnutrition and filth, Corrie's sister Betsie died about a week before her release.
Two incidents drove home to me the importance of timely acts of kindness. Upon her release, Corrie was struggling to get home. She was dizzy and weak from starvation and could no longer walk because her feet were sore and swollen. A stranger approached. “You look like you need help.” Wow! Corrie leaned on him as he helped her to the train station.
Nearer home, Corrie hobbled into a hospital and told a nurse her story. The nurse left and returned with tea and rusk. She said, “I left the butter off. You're suffering from malnutrition. You must be careful what you eat”.
Corrie said tears tumbled in the hot tea as she drank. It was the first time anyone had shown concern for her in a very long time.
Re-reading this book has affected me. Admittedly, it has probably made me a bit overly sensitive to displaying common decency. I turned on Sean Hannity, who I love. Sean had a big smile on his face while reporting more sleazy details of the Tiger Woods scandal. I could not watch him. I turned the channel. Yes, I turned off Hannity who is one of my heroes and flipped back to his show after he finished the Tiger story.
I am all for exposing characterless politicians who pay for prostitutes with taxpayer funds, take bribes and cut self serving deals. Such politicians negatively affect our lives. Outing them is a public service.
Why is everyone having such a good time exposing every titillating detail of Tiger's fall from grace. Tiger is not outspoken politically. He is a great athlete and private citizen. I realize Tiger betrayed his family and fans. Yes, I understand he is a celebrity who brought all of this on himself. I do not fault the media for reporting the scandal. It is a huge story. Tiger Woods has a sex problem. But again I ask, why is everyone so happy about it?
Some of you are probably saying “Toughen up Lloyd, it's rough out there in the real world”. Like a said, I could be overly sensitive to the Schadenfreude (glee at another's misfortune) I am witnessing. Tiger is a troubled young man. His brilliance on the golf course has thrilled us for nearly a decade. Suddenly everyone seems to be relishing his self destruction. It feels very wrong to me.
I am praying for Tiger and his family. It has been said a fall backward handled correctly can be a spring board forward. It would be wonderful to see Tiger seize this veiled opportunity to prove himself to be a greater champion off the golf course by conquering his demons and restoring his family.
Please do not mistake my sympathy as a dismissal of Tiger's trespasses. He screwed up big time! I am simply saying the joy over it all and the excessive coverage is distasteful. Enough already! We got it!
Who among us would like every embarrassing detail of our sin exposed? Because Tiger is a worldwide icon, does that make the piling on and lack of compassion for him and his humiliated wife OK? Is there an assumed rule, “No humanity for celebs”?
Is it because Tiger is at the top of the heap, people want to see him fall? We have all seen the tabloid covers while waiting in the supermarket check out line, “So and so (pick a celeb) may be rich and famous, but boy are they miserable!”
Could the celebration of Tiger's fall be a reflection of the climate of hatred for achievers nurtured by the Obama administration? Now before you accuse me of piling on Obama, please hear me out.
According to the Obama administration, every successful business in America is obsessed with profits and have achieved via abusing their workers and the virtuous innocent poor. Thus, businesses' ill gotten wealth must be redistributed.
I do not want to wander too far off topic. Back to Tiger. Not only for the sake of Tiger and his family, but for ourselves, it is harmful to continue reveling in Tiger's humiliation.
Lloyd Marcus (black) Unhyphenated American
LloydMarcus.com
lmao.......off....... instead
I will respectfully disagree with you. Vick tortured animals in a cruel fashion. Woods lied and cheated.
Dunno, might just be me, but if I were faced with one guy lying to his wife and another electrocuting, drowning and torturing innocent, helpless animals, I know which I would immediately try to stop first.
Not that I applaud what Woods did to his family, it is disgusting. It is just my opinion that it does not rise to the level of torturing and murdering innocent animals. (Not sure if it is considered murder if the victim is not human)
Agree with every word.
this is just one of those things that is inevitable to be seen from different perspectives given race or maybe even other factors...man versus women...the women here seem more angry than the men...which is pretty expected.
but really...I never thought of Woods as black since he never acted that out.
to me is just Asian looking rather tanned guy who jumped the shark with he same weaknesses we all have but he let it go off the deep end because he could
sleeping with porn gang bang girls and all that can entail and then going home and sleeping with wife and mom of his beautiful children and putting her at risk is something I would never ever contemplate...and I am a horndog from the word go.
neither do I get any joy in watching him fall but it's something everyone can sorta relate and comment on together...human failure/achievement is sorta the grist of written word
Woods will survive all this fine if he cowboys up, with his money he can do whatever he wants and should but right now his kids should be his first focus.
I hunt animals...or as you put it...I murder them.
But they taste pretty good.
Do you eat meat?
Excellent excellent excellent article! My hat is off to you sir...you’ve made the most sense out of anything I’ve read on this.
There are millions of men, including myself, under extreme pressure that don't have hundreds of millions in the bank, endorsements out the ass and we don't cope by cheating on our wives and destroying our families.
He was a big speaker at the Obama White House during the inaguration...and shares a cover with B. Hussein on a golf magazine...
Obama = Woods
The Media un-ending hype the bi-racial aspect of both men and how they have become at the highest point in their respective professions (golf and politics) and now, they have to acknowledge that with all the happy stuff comes the bad stuff...
***Same reason all the celebrity shame stories do so well.****
Just look at the tabloids at the check out counters, and the women who buy them!
What we are seeing is the first signs of the race card being played with Tiger.
Now you hear people pointing out that Arnold Palmer was a skirt-chaser as well, and why didn’t anyone care about that?
Black people are going to start claiming Tiger as their own, just like they did with OJ, even though OJ for years forgot about his “blackness” and was the toast of white society.
To whom much is given, much is expected. He got caught. He should have known better. He should have been mature enough to remain unmarried, and childless if he wanted to fool around.
I have zero sympathy for him.
Prima facie evidence of Total Depravity
Don Henley » Dirty Laundry Lyrics
I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something, something I can use
People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry
Well, I could've been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear, give us dirty laundry
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em all around
We got the bubbleheaded bleach-blonde, comes on at 5
She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet?
You know the boys in the newsroom got a running bet
Get the widow on the set, we need dirty laundry
You don't really need to find out what's going on
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone, keep your dirty laundry
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're stiff, kick 'em all around
Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody's pie
Love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry
We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing
When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry
Except Congress. They can suck it.
sw
I don't get pleasure from this tragedy but I don't feel sorry for Tiger either. It's clear now this was not an isolated incident but a pattern of behavior on Tiger's part. I get no joy from seeing his life go down in flames but “actions have consequences” as someone once said.
He did more than lie and cheat. He exposed his wife to potentially deadly STDs and could possibly ruin his children's lives. A millstone comes to mind here.
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