I am not a person who watches a lot of golf. I have tried at various times to play the game. It looks easy when you see the pros play it, but it is not. It is a very frustrating game. I admire how someone like Phil Mickelson can play such great golf on a course like the one in Georgia where the Masters was played last week. He did a great job and it was even more memorable that his wife, who has been suffering from breast cancer, could be there with him.
I was interested as many people were how Tiger Woods would play, who has been gone for the last 5 months or so because of his personal problems. I noticed that he compared himself to Ben Hogan, who injured himself while trying to protect his wife in a car wreck. I thought it took a lot of nerve on his part to compare himself, who has reportedly cheated on his wife at least a dozen times, to a man who injured himself to protect his wife. It goes to show you the ignorance and arrogance of this man.
It also reminded me of the Beatitude where Jesus said that the one who is truly blessed are not the ones who are happy or content now, but the ones who are poor in spirit, who are humble, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness. We may think that Tiger Woods is rich beyond all dreams, since he has made so much in endorsements and in great golf play, but the Bible would declar him as poor, blind and lost. He displays that by a morally corrupt lifestyle, a absolute arrogant view of himself and a worldly view of what a truly successful person looks like.
The sad thing is that so many people still look up to this man. A man who gained his success not by living a morally outstanding life, but by hitting a golf ball. We do similiar things as a society when we elevate people like Michael Jordan or Charlie Sheen, who can't seem to keep their pants zipped up. While ignoring the contributions of those who suffer for others such as first responders during Hurricane Katrina, of which the press said almost nothing or relief workers who go to war and famine effected areas to try and create fresh drinking water or to feed the starving. It is no wonder that Jesus said that some who are first now will be last and some who are last now will be first.
What's your defintion of a role model? Who is a hero to you?
