Congress passes moral judgement on Tiger Woods and is lost on the irony.

Hole in one indeed.

Tiger Woods was being considered for a Congressional Gold Medal for his part in breaking down barriers in the sports world and promoting good  sportsmanship. However, now that he has been exposed as a living human being, capable of flaws, Congress has decided to withdraw the honor.

Democratic Rep. Joe Baca of California was pushing for Tiger Woods to be recognized for his achievements by purposing a piece of legislation that would have honored him and his accomplishments. In light of recent events, he has stated that he will not pursue the legislation this session. The medal is the highest honor that Congress possesses to honor civilians for their contributions to society. (More after the jump)

Rep. Joe Baca of California.

There are several things that bother me about this entire story, far beyond the medal consideration.

Firstly, Tiger Woods had an affair or even several affairs, he did not however, kill anyone. As a country, we have elevated adultery to the status of murder or some other unforgivable grievance. While adultery produces pain and heart ache, it does not end a life nor shine a light on the glaring holes in ones personality. We are all human beings, we all make mistakes and we all learn from them. We all have urges and when you combine that with money and power, they become even stronger. Am I defending what Tiger Woods did? Of course not. He cheated and he should be held accountable for this actions, but that accountability does not lie in the hands of you, me and most assuredly not Congress. I find it very hypocritical that our governing structure has the nerve to make a moral call against Mr Woods considering their hands are so bloody that they long ago lost their original pigment.

I have been cheated on by all but one of my boyfriends and it was never enjoyable. I was heart broken, I cried and then I moved on. It doesn’t feel good in the slightest, but to demonize this man for his moments of weakness, no matter how many,  is beyond the pale of absolute subjectivity. If you are going to offer someone into consideration for an award based on their sportsmanship, what does the number of vagina’s they have been exposed to, have anything to do with it? As a country we have become so obsessed with our fear of sex that we jump at any chance to publicly eviscerate someone based on the choices they have made in their private lives. The bottom line is very simple.

What Tiger Woods does in the privacy of his own social life is not any one else’s business but his own. (Barring of course he is not breaking any laws.) This has no barring on his professional persona at all, although his spokesman deals with suffer greatly.

When we find individuals who have spent their lives building vast empires of moral superiority, only to find them increasingly lacking in their own personal follow through, then it would be expected that their private lives be called into question. However, being that Tiger Woods is an athlete, I do not understand why he is being treated as a pastor whose life was spent in the service of moral authority. To watch the man on TV is to witness a man being punished for a crime far greater than the one he committed.

It is sad that Tiger Woods and this entire fiasco has proven more entertaining to our society than the desire to become engaged with our communities and become the change our politicians have refused to be.