Jan. 28, 2013 – Today, trying to move forward with the anchor of public scandal still attached, former Notre Dame linebacker, Manti Te’o is discretely training in Florida for the upcoming NFL Draft Combine pursuing his dream of becoming an NFL player and star. Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong, amidst his own maelstrom of self-inflicted controversy and angst is preparing himself for future hearings and possible lawsuits.
It is not known how well these two men knew each other prior to this January, but both of their scandals met the media simultaneously. Both scandals contained fraud and deceit. However, there is a little mentioned major issue that brought both stories center stage – not honoring fatherhood.
For Lance Armstrong, who cheated by using performance enhancing drugs to win cycling’s most honored title, winner of the Tour De France - seven times, the epiphany to come clean came from an honor he also did not deserve – honorable father. Armstrong who went to great exhaustive and litigious lengths, even to cruelly destroy the careers of others, was brought face to face with truth by the fervency of undeserved honor given by his defensive 13 year old son, Luke.
During Armstrong’s confession during the famous Oprah Winfrey interview, he said, "I saw my son defending me and saying, 'That's not true. What you're saying about my dad is not true," Armstrong reflected. "That's when I knew I had to tell him." Being championed in fatherly honor brought him to truth and convicted him to come clean, while world governing bodies could not. The love of a son can do that.
Manti Te’o, the apparent victim of a cruel and embarrassing unidentifiable female object of affection (UFO) hoax named Kekua, on the other hand refused to honor his father with the truth. His lie, in order to avoid microcosmic private embarrassment, exacerbated macrocosmic media humiliation. His avoidance of fatherly wisdom through dishonor exposed him to greater questions about his character.
He lies and even tried to justify it. He even asked Katie Couric, “What would you do?” attempting to make his lying seem like the right thing to do. It would be easy to say if in Katie Couric’s shoes, “Easy – honor your father and tell the truth.” However, after admitting to lying to his father, his father says he is no liar – coo coo, huh.
Let me know what you think.
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