And That's the Way it is...

Two items in the news this past weekend captured my attention. The first was the magnificent play at the British Open in Turnberry, Scotland. The British Open is one of four major tournaments sanctioned by the PGA each year and as a major event, it lived up to its hype, but for reasons far different than anyone would have expected. TW, Tiger Woods, draws attention and crowds whenever he plays, but after two rounds, he was gone, failing to make the cut in a major tournament for only the second time in his career. TW, however, was the story of the Open, only this TW was a 59 year-old American, Tom Watson. That someone other than Tiger Woods wins a major golf tournament is not necessarily surprising, but that a man nearly sixty almost pulled it off is indeed a big story. This TW had won the British Open five times before, so he was not a stranger to winning, but it had been a long time since he had won on the PGA tour. To lead a round at his age was more a novelty, it seemed, than anything else. Greg Norman had done it a year ago at age 53. This, however, was different for this TW led, off and on, Friday, Saturday, and right up to the last hole on Sunday before losing his lead and ultimately the championship to American, Stewart Cink. When asked if he was surprised at his performance, Watson answered emphatically, no, for he wouldn't have been there, he said, if he hadn't come to win.

The second story of note for me on the weekend was the death of Walter Cronkite, the venerable anchor of the CBS Evening News for more than two decades. As the tributes rolled throughout the weekend, the term used again and again to describe the respected journalist was "integrity." The video clips played and pictures shown during these tributes were obviously dated, but the concept of integrity appeared timeless. The reverence with which some spoke of Cronkite implied an absence of integrity in contemporary journalism, and some might say, in general, the world in which we live. Millions of Americans trusted that when Cronkite said "And that's the way it is..." at the close of the newscast every night, it indeed, truly was as he had said.

These two events may not seem to have a common thread, and yet, in each, I see the human story and the impact of one person's story on many lives. We are at times surprised by the courage and strength of those whose efforts touch our lives, and challenge us as a result to set the bar a little higher for ourselves. One commentator over the weekend said that there were probably many fifty and sixty year-old men hopping off couches to grab their golf clubs and get back into the game as a result of Tom Watson's performance, while others mused that the renewed spotlight on Walter Cronkite's journalistic integrity could be a lesson for a new generation of journalists.

As a person of faith and an ever-interested student of human nature, I thank God for the continuing lessons of life learned from the examples of people like Tom Watson and Walter Cronkite. There is still much to learn and much to live...and that's the way it is.

Jim Abernathy