Why Derrick Rose IS A Role Model (Especially In Today's NBA)This is a really good article in contest to the Mark Yost article from the Chicago Tribune last week (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-perspec-1229-rose-20111229,0,5657899.story).
Let me just say that Derrick Rose is a great role model: he’s humble, sincere, consistent, amiable, admirable, an all around class act. Everyone’s ascribed a certain amount of talent and savvy to pursue whatever it is that they are passionate about and they can achieve it with the right work ethic, and it just so happens that Rose was destined to be a ball player (and one hell of a ball player!). There are several routes to success, some accomplished through acts of selfishness and others through acts of selflessness, and I think Rose’s ascent to fame and fortune qualifies as the latter. Just because there are allegations that Rose’s SAT scores were falsified doesn’t make him a bad person or immoral; that is one act of deceit to all of the acts of class and benevolence that Rose has shown repeatedly. And face it, the SAT is a biased assessment of test-taking skills, not an assessment of competence or ability; it’s just another scheme in our capitalistic society to help the rich get richer and the poor to remain poor. So what if Rose had to bend the rules a bit to prove himself on the court. I don’t think his affairs with a “standardized test” qualifies as a good judge of Rose’s character. Not to mention that the Yost article is coming from someone with a very biased opinion and perspective. (Has Yost ever been a low-income minority youth living in and attending public schools in the inner-city? I think not.)
And on that note, going back to my original argument on talent, passion, and persistence. I don’t think it’s false hope for youth to aspire to be athletes like Derrick Rose (they have just as slim a chance of becoming the next Barack Obama, although they should also be encouraged more often to pursue other professional and philanthropic careers). As long as they have the right attitude, understand the probability of experiencing success, and don’t neglect their academic success. And that they get the right attention and assistance. Because it’s those that instruct and assist them along the way that should also come into question when they make such poor judgments/decisions.
