Running

Millions of children all across America will now hold a man who once sold drugs, but now accurately catches footballs as their idol and/or role model. Not because he changed his life, but rather because he can catch a ball well.

How obscured has our view of an inspiration, role model, or idol become. It's disheartening, and echoes in my thoughts as to why our youth is kept on a wheel of perpetual motion toward nothing. It echoes the dusty pages of Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man," where it is often said to "keep this nigger boy running."

We unintentionally keep ourselves running in two different ways. All of my children from the Bronx, every last male child, aspires to be nothing other than a football player - no doctors, no lawyers, no presidents. The girls limit themselves to what they see regularly in the "feminine" light: teachers, nurses, etc... Never doctors, never lawyers.

Our role models have become rappers not writers, athletic not educated, entertainers not orators, and all the grey area in between.

One of my students is extremely "fresh;" he owns every pair of Jordans ever! I asked him who his favorite athlete was, he replied "What's an athlete?" Enough said.