When Enough is Enough

Trey Smith

Lance Armstrong has announced he will stop fighting a barrage of drug charges from the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), putting at risk his unparalleled string of seven Tour de France titles and his legacy as one of the greatest sportsmen in history.

Armstrong's declaration on Thursday night sets up a likely lifetime ban from the sport and the possibility that he will be stripped of his signature achievement – the extraordinary run of Tour titles he won from 1999 to 2005.

The USADA responded by saying it would strip Armstrong of his titles. The agency's chief, Travis Tygart, said Armstrong's decision was "heartbreaking", according to Reuters.
~ from Lance Armstrong Drops Fight Against Doping Charges via The Guardian ~

Do I think Armstrong is guilty of the charges? Probably so, but, in his statement to the press, he did say one thing that resonated with me. He said he decided to give up fighting the charges because "enough is enough."

Who among us has not felt this same way? It may involve a dispute or disagreement with a family member, friend or coworker. The dispute is incessant and begins to take on mammoth proportions. After a while, the whole relationship comes to revolve around this one disagreement or allegation.

At some point, when it appears that the impasse cannot be bridged, who hasn't thrown up their hands and said, "Fine. Think what you want to think. I'm done with this."

Armstrong has had to contend with these suspicions for over a decade. Every time he thought they finally had been laid to rest, they would come roaring back. For all his success and fame, almost every interview he gave seemed to come back to these allegations. It's as if these charges have become part of his own shadow -- he can't escape from them.

If he is indeed innocent of doping, he might have looked at the situation and decided that nothing he could say will change people's minds. So, he might have surmised, what's the point in continuing the fight to proclaim his innocence?

On the other hand, if he's really guilty of the charges, maybe he simply didn't want to take the chance of being formally found guilty by the arbitration panel.

It's hard to know what to think.