Tiger, or should I say, the Cheetah, Woods is back in action this weekend at the Masters golf tournament. Which brings me to a post that I’ve been neglecting. But now seems an equally appropriate time as Tiger Woods struts around doing what he does best*, smiling, laughing, looking slimmer and more tanned than usual on the golf course. Okay, he always looks tanned, but now even more so.
I commend him for coming back so quickly to his very public profession, the pressure must be immense, the embarrassment even more so. However, no matter what stick he receives, whatever hell he goes through, no matter how many boos or catcalls, he deserves every one. He made a mistake. Once he got married, even in this atheists world, his wife deserved a whole ton of respect and honor that she didn’t get. His mistake wasn’t the cheating part, that was just dishonest and disrespectful. The mistake was getting married when he wanted to live the lifestyle he did.
This leads me to ask. Why do men such as Tiger, or Jesse, get married when they have the power, fame and money to sleep with practically any woman they want until they just can’t or don’t want to do it anymore? The world is full of jealous men who wish they had this ability. This kind of lifestyle, while not that appealing to everyone, or that safe on a practical level, emotionally or health wise, is a man’s wet dream. That’s why we want to become rock stars. This reason alone.
Getting married fundamentally changes the rules (unless your wife knows and doesn’t mind), doubly so when you’re famous because no matter what, somebody will spill the beans, get a $10 million buy out, wear a “Team Sandra” T-Shirt on all the blogs or hold a press conference demanding an apology and asking to talk to the wife. Because they want some of the fame and the money as well.
I guess the answer is that power goes to ones head (or both of them) and you forget that the rules changed when you got married, that you get so powerful that you think you can actually get away with it. I don’t believe in the ‘sanctity’ of marriage that religious movements promote, however I do believe in love, respect, honesty and abiding by the rules, because there are the lives of the person you love and your family to consider (and they’re probably more important than your sexual conquest desires.)
I understand the fundamental evolutionary reasons why we want monogamous lifelong partners even though we are a species that is not monogamous. We’re completely dual in nature, with the sides of being faithful (how I hate that term) and having new partners remaining in conflict probably as long as the hormones that drive sexual desire are in our system.
Maybe being rich, famous and powerful deprives you of this competing nature? When I’m none one of those I’ll let you know.
* This may be left to interpretation since apparently he is good at many things other than golf.
