NAIROBI, Kenya, February 19 – When a person succeeds – is it that they put the rest of us to task on our achievements in life? Challenge our purpose for existing? Or perhaps just make us wonder what it is about them that allows them to achieve.
Michael Phelps was caught smoking Marijuana – so yet again the struggle for Marijuana’s relevance – I mean why should all these performance enhancing drugs hog the lime light?
Just last week Marijuana appeared in the suitcase of an arrested college basket ball point guard at an airport, in the possession of a former Dallas receiver and a Seattle Line backer and amid a Japanese Sumo wrestling scandal.
But Michael Phelps is a 23 year old red blooded American male; who isn’t allowed to be a 23 year old red blooded American- you see – Michael Phelps is not a person but a product.
They say you sign up for this circus when you become a celebrity – there-in lies the issue; That is why Kellogs can claim a piece and drop him when they feel this product no longer reflects the values of their product.
So Kellogs is a family brand- so what? What about teaching our kids that when they grow up- they too will make mistakes? That you better hope a company like Kellogs would be there to support you and encourage you to reform!
Correct me if I ‘m wrong but seems to me certain presidents that inspired world wide Euphoria also did their share of drugs! You know who I’m referring to I’m sure.
It is interesting to note though that unlike Kellogs on the one hand, IBM on the other hand stood by Phelps even as he was snapped “pulling on a bong”. You see some months before, the company hired Phelps as a key speaker at a customer conference of theirs.
You can imagine the meeting between HR legal and marketing to decide how to handle the situation even as the news of Phelp’s Juvenile behaviour hit the news-stands.
Surprisingly Phelps did not respond in kind! He made it to Oracle’s open world but at the N’th hour called IBM to cancel – he was going through a ‘tough time’.
Swiss watch craftsmen Omega called it a “non issue” and Subway went for censure but not discontinuance.
But below – I pulled an account of the event courtesy of the Life Files
According to a snitch on the scene
“If he continues to party like that I’d be amazed if he ever won any medals again. He arrived with a group of girls hanging all over him. Jaws hit the floor when he walked in. You don’t get many celebrities in Columbia, so when Phelps comes to your party it’s a very big deal. He didn’t know many people so you’d think he’d be a little shy, but he was loud, obnoxious and slamming beers from the get-go. Every girl wanted a piece of him and every guy wanted to be his best buddy. He couldn’t get enough of all the attention.
You could tell Michael had smoked before. He grabbed the bong and a lighter and knew exactly what to do. He looked just as natural with a bong in his hand as he does swimming in the pool. He was the gold medal winner of bong hits. Michael ended up getting a little paranoid, though, because before too long he looked like he was nervous and ran out of the place.
I will leave the Judgment to you but remember ‘let he who is without sin…’
