Every year, I watch the ESPYs and every year I’m touched from Jimmy V’s speech about laughing, thinking, and crying and never giving up to Stuart Scott telling us to fight like hell. This year, beloved athletes and poor Zaevion Dobson’s mom talking about gun violence.
The tragedy and perseverance struck a chord with me this year. The thing is, most of us aren’t really affected by violence taking a life from us, especially at a young age. We need to make a change in this country to stop the violence and start loving each other, no matter who we are.
I don’t understand what it will take? How many more Orlando’s? How many Zaevion Dobson’s and how many more people have to die in Chicago, and other cities across the US. Every year the violence gets worse. LA went through the violence Chicago is now. Chicago Tribune documents it so well for us, this will be another year the city is at pace to break last years record? Chicago is on pace for over 3,000 shooting victims.
The violence has to stop. Period.
Craig Sager this year talked about his fight with cancer. About living life full of love and full of fun. Talking about your will, your fight, your faith. He said “If we don’t have hope and faith, we have nothing.”
There are points where we feel tired, we feel weak, but you can’t let that stop you. You have to keep pushing forward. I think about my faith in god and thank him for the energy he gives me every. single. day. To fight for what I believe in, to push forward when I feel I can’t keep working, to keep striving for better health and wellness. I’ve never been the smartest, I’ve never been the fittest (hell, I’m chubby!), but, I will always continue working. Life is about living, life is about loving. life is about having fun.
This year’s ESPYs didn’t disappoint, and as always, inspired me to do more. To be a better person. To be great. To continue fighting. We need to end the violence. We need to show each other love and compassion.
I teared up multiple times tonight during the ESPYs thinking about how much violence there is in this country. I thought about how sad I’d be if I lost my friend, my cousin, my sisters, my parents, or any of my loved ones to violence the way many people in this country have. Or, if I lost them to cancer like many in this country have. We need to change the hate and turn it to love.
Sports has always been a huge part of my life, which is why I love the ESPYs. Today, athletes like Lebron, Carmelo, CP3, and DWade had a platform. We all have our platform. We should all use the platform we know best to talk about how #BlackLivesMatter. About how we need to end the hate and violence. And how we need to keep fighting , keep loving, and never stop living.
Stay Humble. Hustle Hard.
