Tiger Woods Should be Pitied, Not Hated

Some of you may remember my post on politician Mark Sanford's affair with an Argentenian woman. This is a different blog altogether.

My point then is the same as my point now: No two affair scenarios are alike, just as no two marriages are. This situation -- of which none of us know the details -- is nothing like the Sanford's. Clearly Tiger Woods can't keep it in his pants.

At the risk of people thinking I'm a constant man-defender, I must say this: The lifestyle of the rich and famous is so dramatically different from yours and mine that we can't really fathom it -- and must cut them (them meaning the rich and famous) some slack. The constant temptations these people endure -- granted, it's because of their choice to be rich and famous (but in Tiger's case I suspect it crept up on him) -- is insane. Every marriage has its bumps along the way; but when the rich and famous reach their bumps, they fall into the first person who lures them in.

We don't have this problem. When we (meaning, normal people) have our marital bumps, we don't have another world waiting for us -- one that promises pleasure instead of pain. We have to plow through the pain to get to the other side. Of course regular people have affairs, too; but not at the rate of the rich and famous. That's why it's so rare for any of those folks to stay together for the long haul.

None of this is to let Woods off the hook. I mean falling once is one thing, but this guy's a regular Bill Clinton. Still, I don't feel anger when I hear something like this. I feel pity. To have all that money and a beautiful family to boot and to throw it all away on an orgasm? Pathetic. And now what is he gonna do? Divorce is no answer. If that happens, his life will really become a living hell.

Bottom line: I feel blessed I'm neither rich nor famous. And I feel pity for all the Americans who wish they were.