ROLE MODELS FALL .... well some do!
I was never a golfer, just too slow a sport, and being in my
secular life a cowboy and musician, golf is the last thing I'm
interested in. Of course I've known the name "Tiger Woods" -
you'd have to be in the forest with no radio or TV to not know
the name, or see a photo or two of him. I do remember him winning
his first USA Open. I do not remember him getting married, and up
to few days ago I had no clue how many children he had, if any.
Well the stiff, refined, somewhat aloof, shy kind of guy, and
role model image, as the whole world now knows, has come crashing
down, in some mighty big way.
He's admitted infidelity, and it would seem it was infidelity in
no small way. Infidelity is not new, why it's been around
probably as long as prostitution and fornication (some of you may
have to look up in a dictionary what the word "fornication"
means). Sexual immorality in and out of marriage has been done
from the rich to the poor, from the kings to clowns. We had some
pretty famous people guilty of some form of sexual impropriety in
the last 50 years, that I can remember. And sometimes when you
have fame and money, with no strong religious faith (and yes
we've had famous religious preachers fall from grace with the
world and with their religious denomination because of sexual
sins), you go to the wrong places, mingle with the wrong people,
and sexual immorality is just around the corner.
There are always "women" who are happy to please the rich and
famous, in rich and famous towns.
It seems Tiger Woods started to visit Los Vagus very early in his
pro golf life, and places like that always have many women ready
to please and entertain you. Pretty sexy women can be like a drug
to some men, even after getting married. Tiger married a pretty
woman, but the allure of other pretty women had a hold on him
that was not to be denied, so he feeded it, until as the saying
goes "surely your sins will find you out." And for Tiger Woods
that was this last week or two.
He's admitted his sin, said to the world he's sorry, and has
asked for forgiveness. Well king David of ancient Israel fell
into sexual immorality and more. He DID TRULY REPENT, and was
forgiven by the most important person that can give forgiveness -
the Eternal Holy God. I pray that Mr.Woods will go to Him and ask
of Him what he wants us to do - forgive.
The whole thing is really very sad, very sad because what the
world thought was a fine larger than life role model (They even
showed Tiger some years back saying he'd like to be a role
model), has come crashing to the ground and has smashed into a
hundred pieces. If you were a youngster and a golf enthusiast, I
can dare say you probably looked up to Tiger Woods as a role
model, unless the young people today are so immoral that they
don't care about morality, but only winning the USA Open.
I'm reminded of my youth and enjoying and looking up to a singer
that was taking Britain by storm. It was the middle 1950s - the
age of Rock'n Roll was beginning. It was Elvis, Bill Haley and
his Comets, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Everly Brothers,
Duane Eddy and his twangy guitar, and a whole gang of "swing and
jive" guys and gals. Among all this was this already well know
and famous country/western singer in the USA, that was now
invading the British music charts. In the 1950s Britain had only
ONE music chart, for all kinds of music, whatever music. It was
called "The Top 20." This country singer from the USA sometimes
had as many as 4 or 5 songs in the "Top 20" in Britain, at any
one time, yes any one time. His rendition of "Rose Marie" was
number one for 11 straight weeks, a feat that Elvis or The
Beatles never did break.
His name ..... Slim Whitman! Now for you who know nothing about
Slim Whitman, well go to Amazon.com and type in his name ... up
will come about 2 dozen of his CDs. Or Google ... Slim Whitman.
It was my Mom who brought home the first 2 carbon records of Slim
Whitman singing Rose Marie and Indian Love Call. I was a fan from
that moment on. I would have been 12/13 years old.
One day I spotted in a British paper a photo of this about 30
year old Slim Whitman, with a heading that read: "You'll never
see Slim Whitman in the Movies." Now Slim was a tall guy, nearly
6'4" - he had this tall dark striking kind of look that Hollywood
would have gone for. The article went on to explain its heading.
Slim was married to a minister's daughter. Slim and his wife were
both church attenders. Now that Slim Whitman was becoming an
International Star, his wife had said to him, "I don't mind you
becoming world famous, but I want you to vow to me, you will not
go to Hollywood." The article explained that Slim's wife did not
like many of the things that went on in Hollywood. Slim vowed to
her that he would not go to Hollywood. I still have that paper
clipping.
And he never did go to Hollywood period! No sir-ree - he was
wise enough and committed enough to his Christian faith, that
certain places were not for him. He would never sing in Night-
Clubs (offers were given to him) and he never did. He said that
he would only sing secular songs that could be sung in church.
I was so pleased to read this about Slim Whitman. He never
wavered. As one music critic wrote: In the 1970s when North
America had forgotten about Slim Whitman, the rest of the world
was practically worshipping him.
I was over on holiday to Britain in 1974. They were into their
Slim Whitman week. A light entertainment radio program, one of
the most popular stations, played a Slim Whitman love song, one
every hour, 24 hours a day, for seven days. Then you would go
over to the main British "country/western" station, and there
you would hear Slim Whitman singing his yodeling cowboy songs.
For 40 years the British loved to hear the singing of Slim Whitman.
He is still my favorite male singer, with Roy Rogers and the Sons
of the Pioneers close behind. Roy was a role model that did not
crash either.
Slim Whitman had a HUGE "come back" in North America from 1979 - 1983,
when he was once more a house-hold-name, selling about 4 Million LPs.
Singing in Auditoriums and High Schools all over North America.
At one High School, the kids lit lights or candles while he was singing.
Slim turned to his son and asked, "What does that mean?" His son
replied, "It means they like your singing Dad."
For what it is worth, Michael Jackson cited Slim Whitman as one of
his ten favorite singers.
Audy Murphy (a Hollywood cowboy star) was the most decorated soldier
in the USA in World War Two. As he got older, the thoughts of
killing so many began to haunt him. He claimed he got rest for his soul
by listening to the love song singing of Slim Whitman.
For me there has never been anyone who can sing love songs like
Slim Whitman, and he recorded literally hundreds of them.
As I write this (December 2009) Slim is still alive and will be
in January 86 years old. His wife Jerry died February 2009
- they were married near enough 69 years, yes she was 16 and he was 17 when
they married.
Wow, now in many ways that is some role model, that never
crashed.
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