This morning’s head lines screamed that Lance Armstrong was stripped of all his 7 Tour de France titles. It was only a repetition of what was playing on the ticker tape in last night’s TV news and the way it was being played, one would imagine there was a sense of glee that the poor man has been so publicly humiliated.
I find this whole song and dance about Lance Armstrong and the stripping of his titles extremely silly. First of all a country that is built on competition, a culture that deems that the means justify the end and last of all with a public with very little moral values has no business to point fingers at a man who ultimately only reflected the society in which he was brought up.
America is full of stories of saints who’ve had a past and how every sinner has an opportunity of becoming a saint, how human beings should forgive and forget, how people should learn to forget the past and look ahead, and last of all how every person who asks for forgiveness should be forgiven for his trespasses.
With such a forgiving “culture”, I find it ridiculous that Lance Armstrong cannot be forgiven for “doping”. After all he did it for the larger good – to win the race and raise money for his charities. So what was wrong in that? He was only following his heart, realising his dream and working for a cause he believed in.
So what’s wrong with telling lies?
What’s wrong with running a scam?
And most importantly, why not forgive him?
The Lance Armstrong story only proves that cheaters never prosper. Liars, thieves, criminals, and cheaters , in fact any one who acts in an immoral way can NEVER justify his actions. The means can NEVER justify the end. And once a liar and a cheat – always a liar and a cheat.
While I cannot forgive Lance Armstrong for winning unethically, I feel sorry for him because his behaviour was totally in keeping with the dictum ” All the world loves a winner” and as long as he won, he was the public’s darling.
