Winning … and You

The Tiger Woods story will be told for years to come. A legendary athletic feat that stunningly evolved before our eyes last week. Maybe never to have a parallel in sports … life even.

Not to overdramatize, but the dynamics of Tiger’s feat for me go so beyond golf itself. Moreover Sunday’s scene on the 18th green  expanded for me the capacity of the human spirit. Not to hyperbolize … and I’m not saying Woods even remotely resembles a saint. But I always marvel how episodes in life like this year’s Masters, carry with them, bring to mind “Christlike” qualities we can marvel. Sunday did so for me. All the vilification … all the trial. Ultimately the fall. Finally the “resurrection.” The glory of it all. Woods seemed to have experienced all the phases the greatest person on earth went through. Kinda. I hesitate here so as not to be called sac religious. But these common traits came to mind as I teared last Sunday watching the emotional, so human celebration of Tiger Woods winning the Masters

Indeed there are many victories in sports … in life that capture, possess certain qualities that evoke emotional response. In sports? Muhammad Ali … Ben Hogan (Google him) … 1980’s US Hockey team. In life? Abraham Lincoln … Nelson Mandela … Stephen Hawking (Google him too). All men who achieved the unimaginable. Expand for me my comprehension of the power of the human spirit.

We hear all the time that one of the greatest things about America, “You can become anything you set your mind to be.” Never accept less than giving your best to whatever path you choose. Tiger Woods is just the latest example of the power in each of us. God given it’s up to us individually to draw on, realize our potential.  And in our own way eventually celebrate our own wins. As Tiger and others I cite have done. Tell us we too can do unimaginable things. Win! As Tiger Woods showed us this past Sunday … so inspirationally.