Tiger, Tiger, burning bright in Augusta

As Tiger Woods was taming the famed Masters golf course in Augusta, Georgia, last weekend, Pope John Paul II stood outdoors on a blustery day in Sarajevo to ask the people of that war-torn region to forgive one another and live as a common people.

Although they might seem miles apart figuratively as well as literally, the two events are not unrelated. They both tell us a lot about the moral and communal rewards that come from tolerance and understanding.

Tiger Woods, the Babe Ruth of golf drives and Mozart of the putting greens, is widely described as a Black athlete. In fact, he is as Oriental as he is Black, bringing two minorities to a sport long dominated by whites in exclusive clubs. It is highly appropriate that Mr. Woods used his woods and irons so superbly in the same week that America was honoring Jackie Robinson, who re-integrated baseball exactly 50 years ago. (It is popularly believed that no Blacks played major league baseball before Mr. Robinson; in fact, they had, but the color barrier had been firmly entrenched for decades.)

Half a world away, the Pope told tens of thousands of Catholics that the time had come for swords to be sheathed and for the word "arms" to stop meaning weapons and to come once again to mean "those limbs with which we embrace one another." The ethnic strife that has torn asunder the former Yugoslavia, separating Catholics, Orthodox and Muslims, has been a horrible, long-term eruption of what lies just beneath the surface of many societies, including our own: intolerance, racism, ethnic division and a sense that "they" are less than "we."

Jackie Robinson heroically paved the way for Tiger Woods. It is a sign of how successful the former was and how far white Americans have come that the golfer is celebrated for his achievements rather than vilified, shunned and insulted.

Several years ago, the American bishops declared that "racism is a sin." In Sarajevo last weekend, John Paul reminded us that our Christian duty calls us to tolerance, understanding, forgiveness and love. Sometimes, it is easy to reject racism and to practice tolerance when it involves a charismatic athlete of such superior skills; a better test of white Catholics is how successfully they reject racism and embrace understanding in everyday encounters with minorities and those of other faiths.

(04-17-97)

[[In-content Ad]]