Basketball legend LeBron James was reminiscing about the role models of his youth.
When I was growing up there were, like, three jobs that you looked for inspiration, or you felt like these were the people that could give me. Like, it was the President of the United States, it was whoever was the best in sports, and then it was, like, the greatest musician at the time.
Those role models represented something distant and unattainable, but they still inspired.
You never thought you can be them, but you can grab inspiration from them.
There were also sources of more immediate inspiration. They became role models in the immediate neighborhood.
There was a neighborhood African-American cop, and he was cool as hell, come around. I felt like I could be him. Yes, I could be him.
There was more, of course. Some discussion about his own attempt to be a better man, to be worthy as a role model.
Then came a comment that placed a conservative target on the back of LeBron James. He talked about what happens when a role model does not take that responsibility seriously: the added responsibility it puts on others.
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