The man with the golden voice finds himself in a bit of hot water.

I have a theory. Most people’s upside is also their downside. Take Achilles, for example. When just a baby, his mother dunked him in the river Styx in an effort to try to make him immortal. However, in so doing, she held the boy by his ankles, thus leaving his heels vulnerable. Achilles was killed in the siege of Troy by Paris when an arrow struck him in the very spot left vulnerable in his mother’s quest to make him anything but.

A stretch? Maybe. But I know many people who have traits, which have not only helped them succeed, but have also led to some of their pitfalls as well. Could Ted Williams, the once homeless man with the golden voice, be yet another example of such a person?

By now most everyone knows the story of the homeless man who gained sudden fame thanks to a YouTube video featuring the booming voice which contrasted starkly from the tattered-looking man using it. Once discovered, America, as it is wont to due, jumped all over him. Ted Williams has gone from living on the streets to kicking it with Matt Lauer faster than I can realistically expect to receive intra-state mail. We all watched as Williams made the requisite talk-show appearances. We listened with delight to his voiceover over on the new Kraft commercial. Some of us even reached for our tissues during his public and tearful reunion with his mom.

“Hi Mommy. Hi Mommy,” he said in his beautiful voice that was cracking with emotion.

Williams’ voice recently resonated with yet another type of emotion during an encounter with a different family member — anger as he argued with his daughter outside a Hollywood hotel. Williams categorized the verbal altercation as nothing more than a minor family squabble.

Even so, the LA Times, as well as many other media outlets, is reporting that the LAPD was called on the scene, thanks in part to that golden, and by-now recognizable voice which was overheard by hotel employees who reported the disturbance. Williams talked to “Entertainment Tonight” about the altercation. “My daughter exploded, just erupted into this jump-up-in-my-face type of thing, fists started flying, none of which were mine, none of which were mine, but it could have escalated to the point where it could have gotten really ugly.”

His daughter told the TV show that she was upset with Williams because he was drinking. The suddenly famous man has openly admitted to struggling with substance abuse in the past. Williams, however, denies the claim. Regardless, the man with the golden voice was indeed detained by authorities but not arrested as many initially believed.

It’s hard to fathom that the subject of such scrutiny was homeless a little over a week ago, particularly considering how many people simply pretend that homeless people don’t exist. But homeless people do exist. Just ask my 9 year-old. She’s obsessed with the plight, asking me the same series of questions whenever she sees a person on the streets. Essentially she wants to know how someone becomes homeless. And I always tell her the same thing: “Everyone has a story, honey. You’d have to ask that person what happened. It’s impossible for me to know.”

What I’m hoping she’ll gather by these words is that homelessness does not make someone bad. Just like having a golden voice doesn’t make someone good. It’s just another facet to who they are. We all have a story, and the homeless are no exception. Madeline stated it far better than I ever could in a recent post. The homeless deserve care, regardless of whether or not they posses a mind-boggling, fame-inducing talent, just as any person with any story does.

Sadly though, we live in a world of labels. And while I don’t have a particular opinion with regard to Williams’ public altercation with his daughter, I do have a strong opinion about how our society has has taken a man they ignored for years, then suddenly re-categorized him as the greatest thing since sliced bread. It’s sad. Pathetic, really.

Don’t get me wrong. I like how anything is possible in America, including going from rags to riches. It might be our country’s greatest quality. But it seems to have backfired in this case.

See what I mean about upside and downside?

I think I’ll let my daughter in on Ted Williams. I think his story might help answer some of her questions. As well as lead her to others.

Image: Wikipedia

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