Woods. And the Sound of a Tree Falling

Over the last week or so, much has been said and written about Tiger Woods and his recent 'transgressions'. The morally conservative have expressed outrage and disappointment over his infidelity. The more open-minded liberals, like my friend in his blog post, have taken a more tolerant view, drawing distinctions between his private / personal life and his sense of professionalism and commitment to the game, and questioning the sanctimoniousness of his critics. As for me, I do believe in the morality of not hurting people, but do not believe in the morality of sexual conservatism. I think it is OK to do pretty much whatever you like as long as you don't hurt people you care about by reneging on commitments that you've made to them. What that actually translates to in terms of degrees of sexual freedom (or constraints) is for you to work out with the said people in your life, whoever they may be. 


Agreed, a man's private life is nobody else's business, as my friend's post also opines. However, if the man is a celebrity who endorses big brands, who signs contracts that makes him accountable for his behaviour in some way or other, then it's a bit dumb to conduct his life in a cavalier fashion. Not immoral. Just plain dumb. Accenture summarily dropped Tiger Woods as their brand ambassador yesterday and this comes as no surprise. I mean .. duh .. what was he thinking?

In the course of letting myself get a little carried away with the spirit of word play (thanks to all the metaphors, puns and other figures of speech that bloggers like my friend have been spinning around 'woods' and 'trees'), I was reminded of the old zen-like ponderable: If a tree falls in the woods, would it make a sound if nobody is there to hear it? I think celebrities who endorse brands (especially those where 'integrity' is an important brand value) should conduct their lives with this question in mind. They should make sure that the tree doesn't fall, and if it just has to, then they should make sure that nobody is around to hear it. That's the only way to ensure that private lives remain so.

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