I was disturbed by the Inside Column of March 25 ("End of Absence," Andrew Owens) about the return of Tiger Woods to the PGA. Owens' sentence "Just because people thought he had a nice smile ... does not mean he is a good person" implies indeed that because of his past transgressions, like Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods is a bad person. I would strongly disagree. As not only a Catholic, but also as a member of the population of a country based on the belief in second chances, I believe Owens confuses a bad person with a human being — that is, all of us are prone to make mistakes and deserve forgiveness and a second chance. Does he presume that his future will be mistake-free or that these inevitable mistakes will make him a bad person? Being in a Catholic community where the hallmarks of our daily living should be tolerance and forgiveness, I would hope that we would allow Tiger Woods, just as we would allow any member of our community, a second chance. His winning is simply evidence of his ability to start over. Our applause means that we are not judging, but rather giving him the ability to go on with his life and prove himself again, which is what every human being deserves.
Felicia Caponigri
junior
off campus
March 25
