LeBron James told everybody to Witness Greatness. I took that confidence to heart.
Growing up, I was always a child that felt destined for greatness, even before I know what it was. Maybe it’s because my mother and aunt were so focused on me having a great education that they home-schooled me with vocabulary tests before I could even enroll in pre-K. From there, anything requiring my intellect became second nature.
As I grew older, my interests broadened to include the first sport I loved. Basketball. I would spend hours on end shooting on the goal outside of my grandma’s house in Texas. I ended up getting trained by some guys that worked on the military base who wanted to start a rec league with the young kids from the area. I remember being terrible at my ball-handling and layups. I remember nearly hyperventilating because I wanted “it” so bad that I pushed my feeble young body to it’s limit.
What was that “it”? An itch for greatness.
One day, while sitting at my grandma’s house, I saw a sports magazine with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony on it. I couldn’t tell you exactly what year it was but 2005 seems like a great bet. What I remember most about that moment was a sudden desire to choose between James and Anthony, although I had yet to see them play against each other. James, the one being called “King James” and “The Chosen One”, had drawn my interest with monikers that indicated greatness. Anthony so happened to play for the Denver Nuggets and being born in Colorado, I felt inclined to side with him.
8-years-old and not knowing a lick about who they were outside of this magazine and those minute details, I started watching the NBA game to choose a side to be loyal to. Instantly, James’ grace, power and athleticism electrified me and I was hooked. Anthony was more athletic back then and he could score for days. However, James’ all-around ability grabbed me.
He was a player much like Julius “Dr. J” Erving, a player who I had studied incessantly though he starred in a decade that I wasn’t around for. Erving was a high-flying, high-wire act but he also displayed an all-around game.
Erving himself just looked a lot to me like the basketball version of Frederick Douglas, one of the greatest orators and tales of self-made success in American history. A man who lived through the horrors provided by the country’s antebellum history and stood strong while uplifting the community.
Why does that matter? Because while James’ desire for people to Witness Greatness inspired me, so has his ability to be like Douglas. James is one of America’s great orators and speaks up on social injustices during a crucial time in our country. We need people like Douglas and James in every state and country if we want to have a world worth living in. People who are strung enough to stand up in the face of adversity and speak for those who feel like they aren’t spoken for enough. People who have been pushed aside in order for particular demographics to step to the front.
See, I looked up to Douglas a lot as a child and wrote research papers on him in elementary school. He was Martin Luther King Jr. before Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and before Malcolm X. When I see James, I feel the same admiration I felt for those three exemplary black men.
I don’t remember what day it was when I discovered that James and I shared the same birthday but it was the same day that Tiger Woods shared. Woods, who was at the top of his game then, was a living legend on the golf course and black America for venturing into a sport that had yet to be dominated by a black man. From there, an idea rooted in numerology rooted itself in my head.
They say every great thing comes in threes, right?
James, born on December 30th, 1984, was a man who had breathtaking abilities and the ability to be the best player to step foot on the court. Woods, born on December 30th, 1975, was a man who drew the attention of the whole world when he stepped on golf course. I was born on December 30th, 1992. 17 years after Woods and 8 years after James who was born 9 years after Woods.
Nine divided by three is three.
In my mind, I had the chance to be the third individual on that list. The third all-time great.
However, while I loved basketball with my heart, I knew that I had to take over in a realm of life untouched by my “predecessors”. Would it be rap? Would it be writing novels?
To be honest, I’m still uncertain about what walk of life my greatness is supposed to shine in even if I’ve had an unprecedented level of success in my first year as a sports journalist. Yet, I’m dedicated to my craft and I’m passionate about the words I put on paper – a mirror image of James on the basketball court or Woods on the golf course.
Writing is my first love. Yet, I don’t want to change the world with just my written words. Not even my spoken words.
I want to change it by improving the economy worldwide, enhancing the capabilities of the human mind and finding ways to travel through dimensions in space never-before-captured.
Though my drive to be great was innate, James provided a perfect picture of how to be great and I’ll be forever grateful for that. As strange as it may sound to some, my birthday has inspired me to be an all-time great.
Only time will tell what happens from here but the sky isn’t even the limit.