I scan the news everyday and he is getting crucified right now. It is hard to find an internet site, a paper, or magazine that does not have his picture plastered on it with a headline that reads something like "Cheater," or "Liar."
I am curious, what do you all think about this?
As someone who is in the Fitness and athletic industry I can understand why he did it. I do not personally believe in it, but I get it.
When you are competing at the elite level like that there is such a small margin that separates the winners from everyone else. If you are better than everyone else, you will win, pretty simple right. Well, what if "everyone else," starts using performance enhancers. They provide just enough to lift them from 3rd place to 1st. What is the guy who was the best supposed to do? How is he ever supposed to win, to reclaim his rightful spot at the top, unless he does what everyone else is doing?
What really bothers me about this whole thing, is why Lance? Why is he labeled a liar and a cheat. Why is all the good he has done, being cast aside right now? Is it to sell more newspapers? To drive TV ratings up?
I ask because he lied, but so do our elected leaders don't they?
Here in the USA we recently had the Presidential election. Over the course the election there are three debates between the two opponents. When the debates end, one of the first things to happen, is the news organizations cut to the "fact check" room. The fact check room is just what its name implies, it is a place to check the facts, to see who lied to us and about what.
Why are there not more stories, of equal magnitude to Lance Armstrong, about the lies of the "leaders" of our respected nations? Why is it that we will excuse them, but not Lance? Why is it that we will accept their "lies" and misleading's, but not Lance's? More importantly, why are we so quick to and so willing to forgive and forget what they did, but not Lance?
How many of them have created cancer foundations? How many of them have helped to raise 10's of millions of dollars for cancer research? How many of them have helped to save the lives of 1000's of people because of their foundation? How many of them have inspired generations of people to rise above adversity, to not wallow in their circumstances, but to instead use those circumstances as the fuel for a cause?
Is Lance Armstrong's drug use, blood doping, or whatever it was, is it really worth diminishing all the good he did?
What happens if it is uncovered that some of the decision makers and governing bodies knew of what is going on? What kind of message does that send to children?
You can do whatever you need to do to win, as long as it is making everyone involved A LOT of money. However, once you get to old, or once you stop winning and money runs out, those same people will brand you as a liar, a cheater, and will drag your name through the mud?
Again, I do not think what Lance did was right, but I understand why he did it. And given the climate of the Tour de France at the time ( how many of the top 20 guys have all tested positive for some sort of performance enhancing drug at this point??) he needed to, to maintain the edge over guys who were almost naturally as good as he was, but were willing to do whatever it took to be a little better.
Honestly though at the end of the day, I am so thankful he DID take whatever he took. It gave him the edge he needed to win. And because he won, we loved him for it. And because we loved him for it, we made him a celebrity and put him on a pedestal. And from this pedestal, Lance Armstrong was able to become a champion in a different way. He was able to create and bring about a tremendous amount of positive change to the world.
He was able to Champion a cause that has hit close to home for so many of us. He was able to Champion Cancer Research, Treatment, and Prevention.
Had Lance not won, there would most likely be no Live Strong, there certainly would not have been the 10's of millions of dollars raised for Cancer research/treatment/prevention. And those 1000's of people whose lives were saved as a result, maybe you are close to one of them, well they, they would all be dead. There certainly would not have been the 100's of millions of Lance Armstrong inspired dollars pumped into local economies around the world. People everywhere were buying bikes, going to cycling events, buying gear, etc... because they were inspired, they were inspired by a man who was given only a 40% chance of living and now was dominating one of the most challenging endurance events.
And lastly, there would not have been generations of people inspired to go out and ride a bike, or to get in shape, or volunteer at the local cancer center, or to take a stand against cancer and refuse to let it get the best of them.
Lance Armstrong is a hero that is what I think. If we as a society are going to start making witch hunts a focal point of our existence, I think there are better places we could spend that energy (Politicians - hint hint) than destroying the people who are doing what they can to make a positive difference.
What do you think? I really would love to read your thoughts/opinions.
Please share below, and when sharing, please be respectful of other people's thoughts/opinions.
Carpe Diem,
Jesse
