Tiger Woods Apology

His sweet face wont' get him far now - how many people do you know who depend on their good looks and sweet words to manipulate their world? (and it WORKS until people catch on to them)

A few thoughts came to mind watching his apology. He has completely destroyed his family with his actions, and a mere apology won't change anything.

"I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply," he said.
He did NOT say that those values were forced on him, and he did not adhere to them. He owned the values as being something of benefit. He never said those core values were his moms, not his. I think everyone knows what core values are, and the fact that he acknowledges them is big. He could have said "I have my own beliefs and you have yours" - instead he is making a stand that there ARE standards to live by - Christian or not, nothing to do with religion. Interesting.....

Woods said he "believed he could get away with anything he wanted." Well, he DID get away with it for a long long time - but be sure your sins will find you out. Once one crosses the threshold of infidelity, or enter into behavior that is known to be wrong, one convinces him/herself that the rules are void - or even not applicable to themselves. They become obsessed with self - and that destroys all loving relationships. We are talking about repeated behavior here - not once in a while. That completely destroys, not merely damages, relationships. To rebuild those relationships is huge. A mere apology has nothing to do with it.

"I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and I deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me," he said. "I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules." How many times have I heard similar talk? The "I deserve" mentality can wreak havoc with reality. When one becomes consumed with pleasing oneself, others don't matter.

"I have made you question who I am and how I could have done the things I did," Woods said. ....and he will have to live with these questions the rest of his life - those are consequences of behavior, a reality not to be bargained with.

"I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated," Woods said. "What I did was not acceptable." He was simply stating the obvious - this is not a confession, nor does it imply a turning back from those behaviors.

"It's now up to me to make amends, and that starts by never repeating the mistakes I've made," Woods said. "It's up to me to start living a life of integrity." Taking full and total responsibility - only from this point can one actually change. As long as others are to blame, there will never be change. He depends on no one else to help him change, or to be part of the change, or to even encourage him in his challenges, although he is getting help from therapy. He is not saying that what he has done has made him a stronger and better person. He knows it was horrible and no good.

"As Elin pointed out to me, my apology to her will not come in the form of words. It will come from my behavior over time," Woods said. His wife made the wisest statement of all. Words mean nothing if the behavior has shown to be careless and hurtful and selfish. There is no reason to believe he has changed. The burden is on HIM to prove he has changed, not on his family to now accept him.

I think of some "apologies" I have received. What if Tiger, in the apology, said things like "but you need to know the world is diverse", "what you are doing is way worse than what I did", "you have no idea how I feel", "I had to do what I had to do", "I am glad I did it, but sorry you got hurt", "what I did has made me a better person", "I just did what normal men do". Can you imagine Tiger trying to apologize like that?

Good luck Tiger - I would not want to be in your shoes for all the gold in the world, but I wish you the best.