What Tiger Woods’ Arrest Taught Me About Myself

There’s this scene in Beauty and the Beast when an angry mob descends upon the Beast’s castle. Pitchfork shadows dance in torchlight as the crowd celebrates itself with every advancing footfall. They chant vitriol in unison and sing with dark glee in celebration of what they’re about to do. And who could blame them?

After all, it is a Beast they’re after…right?

But the audience, of course, knows that The Beast is not really a beast at all. I dare say there is not a person in that audience who wishes harm on our brave hero because they’ve gotten an insider’s glimpse of what is inside. Oh, yes, Mr. Beast is tragically flawed and far from innocent but we all witnessed from where he came. His redemption story is almost complete. So, it seems, is his demise.

And the angry crowd moves in…

I saw where Tiger Woods was arrested for DUI the other day and, wouldn’t ya’ know it, before the ink was even dry on his fingerprints the angry mob began it’s stampede towards the castle.

“It’s Karma for what he did to his wife!” they bellowed from the safety of their keyboard kingdom.

“Looks like he picked the wrong driver!” others chuckled.

And I get it; I really do. I don’t mean to be a stick-in-the-mud but we’re better than this. I appreciate how all the humor and quick laughs can provide us a break from all the obvious poison that is out there, but I really think all these malicious-meme-manifestos are making us into some pretty ugly and calloused people.

This time, when the bad news began to swirl, I did not laugh at their wit like I once did when I was younger and had it all figured out. Honestly, I just found myself feeling sad for a guy who I used to really admire. The older I get, it seems, the more my heart seems to break when I see people broken.

Fast forward 24 hours and we learn that Tiger Woods had back surgery a few weeks ago and had a 0.00% blood alcohol level after he was arrested. He was found asleep in his car after experiencing dizziness from prescribed medication, and subsequently arrested. Is he entirely innocent? I don’t know…and neither does anyone else.

And yet, I don’t see anyone who churned out all that judgement and hate the last few days retracting their condemnation. Nope. The angry crowd just turns it’s sheepish glance away from the scene and looks for the next victim.

Now I’m not one to tell grown folks what they should or should not do. You do you and I’ll do me. I just can’t imagine wanting to be treated the way we oftentimes treat strangers when their worst day shows up in the newspaper. Something tells me you’d be looking for a bit of grace as well if the tables were turned here. I just think we could all do better to lean into a bit of kindness and compassion rather than anger and judgement.

“Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” John 8:7