A Comment is not always a Call to Action

Tiger Wood commented during an interview about the final round of play at a recent tournament he ultimately won: if his opponent had not been on the clock, he would have played better. Some people play better under pressure and others don't: this opponent was negatively affected by both the pressure of being in contention with Tiger Wood and being on the clock to speed up his play. These things happen, observed Tiger: it's unfortunate; next question? I didn't hear any implied criticism, yet it's rumored that Tiger will be fined for criticizing the official who started the clock as per the rules that govern golf. It is further rumored that the official is "demanding" an apology from Tiger!

You'd think Tiger's observation was a confrontation worthy of another beer summit!

In another incident this past weekend, Secretary of State Clinton curtly responded to an ill-stated question from a reporter during a news conference. The way the question was posed, it assumed that former President Clinton was involved in the decision-making process, rather than current Secretary of State Clinton, a mistake that Secretary Clinton forcefully corrected. Sure, Clinton's comment could have been less caustic, but her response is not a reason to create an international incident where none exists.

Our skin is too thin when a comment is construed as criticism that requires a call to action. It's okay to respond to Tiger's observation and point out the rule upon which the decision to start the clock was based, but a response does not need to become a crusade to right what is so obviously not a wrong, such as another incident that happened locally.

This past weekend, a group of males in their 20s went out on the town and consumed too much alcohol before returning to their hotel. A couple of the men decided that a quick dip in the pool would help them sober up before going to the room and sleeping it off. One of the men never made it out of the pool: when the guys realized he hadn't returned to the room with them and found him at the bottom of the pool, it was too late to save his life. Swimming off a drunk is never a good idea, and it can end badly; however, it's just a drunk swimming accident. The hotel management, perhaps in an effort to combat death by drunk drowning, the first at this hotel, is no longer going to allow 24/7 access to the swimming pool, a total over-reaction to this incident.

Life happens, some of it good and some of it not so good, but our society used to be more pragmatic: deal with it and move on. We cannot continue to go through life looking for insult where none is intended and/or change the way we do business based on a single incident that ends badly. We all need to learn to change what needs to be changed, accept what cannot be changed, but more importantly, to exercise the good judgment to know the difference.