It is ironic that the NBA player
who promotes world peace the most is also the one who displays the most
violence on the basketball court. When Ron Artest decided to change his name to
Metta World Peace prior to the beginning of the 2011-2012 basketball season, he
was making a statement. Some people thought it was crazy, and some others
thought it was courageous. But it was definitely for a good cause, as his
self-acclaimed mission was to inspire
and bring youth together all around the world.
However, that mission seems to have been forgotten by Artest
this season. Who knows what came over him, but he quickly transformed into a
very dirty and disrespectful player, overshadowing his image of a hard-working competitor and an extremely
good defender. It is sad that it took Artest many years of research and soul-searching to find a first name that
was both personally meaningful and inspirational to him, when it is so clear
for one to notice how very little time it took him to jeopardize his own good
cause, and to spoil his new name and the message it is supposed to transmit out
to the public… especially, the young generation of future athletes.
I wonder every day the approach
he is taking with his mission, based
on his actions. It does not make sense for him at all to change his name and endorse
world peace and unity around the world, if he is just going to be one of the
most problematic players in the NBA. It is difficult to comprehend what he is
bringing to the table when, occasionally, he displays images of a great
humanitarian (someone with a big
heart who cares about the world), but simply does not lead by example. In fact,
he does the complete opposite. He gets into too many immature fights on the court, collects inexcusable technical fouls, and receives needless suspensions which put the L.A. Lakers in bad situations. And that is just shameful.
Hopefully, Artest will learn from this season’s mistakes and re-direct
his head back into his game and mission.
Without a doubt, we desperately need a leader who can help us live in a better
world that is right now being destroyed by unnecessary wars, conflicts and
personal/governmental selfish interests. Artest definitely has the charisma to retake
his mission and make it work. I am
sure that if he carries it out the right way, people will forgive him and he
will regain the support of a great number of them.
- Y gracias
por no fumar!
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| Artest (left) elbowing Harden, intentionally. This action cost him a 7 day suspension from the league. Picture from articles.businessinsider.com |
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