A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a lack of social consciousness by the athletes of our world. This week I read an article in the ESPN Magazine that sort of changed my mind (a bit). Howard Bryant wrote:
Michael Jordan has never been known for a single courageous social act. Jordan recently sued a defunct supermarket chain and won $8.9 million dollars over an advertisement that reportedly yielded all of $4.00.
LeBron James, on the other hand, recently pledged $41 million dollars to partner with the University of Akron (his hometown) to send as many as 2,000 at- risk Akron kids to college. It is noted in the article that a kid from a poor upbringing has almost no chance of going to college, unless he has an amazing fastball or jumpshot.
LeBron also was one of the first basketball stars to wear an “I Can’t Breath” T-shirt on the court during warmups of a nationally televised game.
I have always tried to do what I can to help people that didn’t grow up in privilege like I did. It is nice to see someone who can actually make a difference do so, too.
I recently did a series of interviews concerning farm issues. I interviewed a young man who learned how to grow food while in jail, and now is the head farmer on the largest rooftop farm in the country. It is good to see that things are happening in a grass roots way to make the world a better place.