Lance Armstrong– The Price of Winning At All Costs
We all want the best for ourselves. We all feel at times that we are better than the rest. We are all taught to aspire for what we want to get in life through hard work and steadfast determination.
Now in terms of getting to our goals, sometimes, the quest for personal achievement and perceived personal perfection can sometimes get us askewed from the path of righteousness. It can get really screwy when one might want to win at all costs even through dishonest means.
Case in point is Lance Armstrong previously known as a 7 time Tour de France cycling champion. I say “previously’ since after extensive evidence of doping found through the years , he was stripped of all his cycling titles and was imposed a lifetime ban on participating in cycling competitions.
After several years of steadfast denials and even slandering his detractors, he now comes clean.
My question: WHY NOW?
I find his soon-to-be released interview this Thursday with Oprah all timed to his convenience and on his terms after consulting with his publicists and lawyers. Probably the statute of limitations had already expired for him and he perceives himself as safe to ‘fess up now without any penalties. Criminal charges perhaps, he’ll get away from but I don’t know about civil charges especially the slandering of his detractors.
My take on this is that Mr. Armstrong wants to ‘fess up now is because he wants to regain back his reputation, have the lifetime ban lifted,get back into a sporting career. and possibly,receive all those endorsement deals.($$$$$$) again.
However, he’s going to have to try very hard because he had made a lot of people upset and disillusioned with him for his gross dishonesty in terms of lying and cheating.
He’s going to learn the hard way that for people to change their perception of him will have to come on their own terms and time and NOT HIS.
He should know that people don’t want to be treated as if they’re stupid which is really insulting.
However, if his orchestrated confession is his way of thinking that people are still stupid and gullible in believing him, he really needs to get both his head and ego checked.
Shame on him for thinking that he must win at all costs.
Being a sports icon involves a degree of responsibility since one also serves as a model for kids who aspire to compete to make themselves a better person and to learn the lessons of fair play and good sportsmanship.
I pity his kids who’ll have to deal with his personal albatross as they grow up.
He has done a great deal of good to his Livestrong Foundation for cancer survivors being one himself but it may suffer by guilt of association with him when the foundation starts experiencing fundraising problems.Perhaps, his confession now is one way to help stem that possible upset.
Honesty may be the best policy but in this case, it was quite too late for him to come clean ‘coz again, he did it on his own time and terms to save his own skin.
As I see it, he wasn’t saying he’s sorry that he doped and cheated in his sport. He was sorry that he got caught.
For Mr. Armstrong, he really needs a big dose of reality.
We have a saying which I think he needs to remember always,albeit quite late now:
It takes years to build a reputation and only a few seconds to destroy it.
May God help him!
Josie
josiesvoice 