Week 5: Support for Separated Families

As a private citizen, I feel perturbed by the fact that Tiger Woods had to make a public statement about his private life. Yes, Tiger is an extremely talented individual who has the opportunity to express his talent in a profession that is inherently high profile. He does not have the luxury of working in an office building where only his co-workers know his name while he appears as nothing more than a phantom to rest of those around him. He does not have the luxury of flying under the radar if something goes terribly wrong in his private life which does not affect his ability to get the job done.

Wait a minute, working in an office is a luxury compared to “working” on the greatest golf courses around the world? Yes, from a privacy aspect, it is a luxury. When life crumbles around those of us who are not public figures, we can still go out in the world without the majority of the people knowing what happened or assuming they have the right to demand explanations. We have a built-in sense of security and comfort that allows us time and space to sort through our problems at our own pace.

I have known super intelligent individuals who were highly skilled at producing results in their respective professions. I have seen some of them take a few missteps in their private lives which hurt the people who cared about them but did not affect their job performance. However, I did not see their superiors, co-workers, neighbors, and strangers following them around pressing for comments, salacious details, or public apologies. Instead, I saw people reaching out to offer support. Grant it, some people did turn their backs. A few people did attempt to exploit the situation and bury these professionals for their choices outside of the workplace. Yet, others simply offered support.

I do not agree with Tiger’s personal choices. I am not in any way saying that his actions were okay. Excusable? No, not in my opinion. Forgivable? That depends on the parties involved which are his wife, himself, and his Higher Power. I will not probe the specifics of Tiger’s life and latest events any further in this article. I do not feel it’s any of my business nor do I believe this is the proper forum for such a discussion.

An Opportunity to Heal

However, as a representative of the International Freedom Coalition and the Walk a Week in Your Shoes campaign to Celebrate Strong Families, I would like to use the Woods’ situation as an opportunity to flood the internet, our conversations, and our conscious minds with something positive, something educational, something uplifting, something healing.

Share Your Story

For men and women who have found themselves in a domestic situation similar to that of the Woods’, I invite you to share how your family overcame such a challenge. What were the issues and how did you resolve them? Even if the partnership ended in separation or divorce, how did you maintain a strong relationship with your children and ex-spouse? How did you apply the lessons from that challenge to create stronger bonds in subsequent relationships?

Please share your story as a comment to this post on our official Sights ‘n Sounds Blog to offer real-world guidance to a family who may be struggling for solutions right now.

In forgiveness,