Daily Lessons from Life 03 December 2009

channelnewsasia.com - Golf Tour rivals offer support as Woods admits transgressions:

"Woods offered a 'profound apology' on his website for 'transgressions' in his family life, as a magazine posted what it claimed was evidence of an extramarital affair between the golfer and a cocktail waitress."

He crashed his car outside his multi-million dollar house early morning a few days back. He refused to talk to the police after that. He is obviously very traumatized then and a bit shaken still now.

He has come round to acknowledging his 'transgressions' in his family life. It would have been a non-event if he is President Clinton. Or George Best. Or Kobe Bryant. Or any other superstars of entertainment or sports.

Unfortunately he is Tiger Woods. The role model of many young people - male and female - all over the world. I cannot recall any other sports person who get such a high recognition from people who NEVER play golf or REMOTELY know about GOLF not knowing his name. He is also the 1st billion-dollar sportsman endorsing family products. I think it is going to hurt though he will still have his admirers for sure for his phenomenal golfing skills and his charitable work, hopefully sincerely.

Lessons for me are:

1. it is public even though it is private if you are a public person. When you are a role model, whether you consciously cultivate that image or not, you will have an impact on others who admired what you stand for and achieved. It is therefore a huge responsibility to shoulder. Like some other famous sports stars said: you have to make the best decision knowing that someone is watching you;

2. even though it is public it should be private as it is a private matter within the family and between the husband and wife. Since he has admitted 'transgressions in his family life', it should be left to them to sort it out. We don't really need to know the details, no matter how juicy as it will be ugly;

3. sexual scandals, especially when it involved willing partners who are grown up in the USA does not seems to stick too much. The standard was set by ex-President Clinton while we always have the rock stars, the movie stars, the sports stars, etc involved with such activities. As long as their spouses forgave them or they parted way amicably with the millions or billions rightfully due to the parted spouse, things go on as normal. So, hopefully that is what will happen.

As for the endorsement contracts, we will see how the companies that used him as the spokesperson decides. Or they are probably checking out how the users or consumers decide...

It is not easy to be the man in the spotlight for the wrong reason. Admit it and move on. It is not a life and death situation, thankfully.