I’ve been meaning to write this ever since the Antonio Brown situation happened a few weeks ago.
Antonio Brown is one of the most gifted athletes on the planet…& bc of that, he’s been given chance after chance after chance, despite some questionable behavior both on & off the field.
We don’t need to rehash that behavior – it’s listed in the post a few back, where you see his picture. But this situation is a microcosm of what happens so often – in society in general, & not just in sports.
It makes me think of alllll the cases out there, where we observe someone’s behavior, & pass them off as – “they’re crazy.” This leads to no one getting better.
How often have you heard that term used – forgetting about how using it in the literal sense can be unfair & triggering. From a public figure perspective we’ve heard it used to describe the behavior of folks like: Kanye West, Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen, Pete Davidson, and Terrell Owens, just to name a few.
Now forget about celebs for a second: how often as a child did you see outbursts? Or did you engage in outbursts yourself? Constantly yelling at a referee for bad/questionable calls…leaving the court or field throwing something or kicking something over…in the classroom having screaming matches w teachers or administrators?
These are things we see ALL the time. And don’t get me wrong – whether we are the ones acting out, or others are acting out, it gets tiring after a while. So…we pass the person off as “crazy”…or we’re told we “crazy” for our behaviors, in a flippant way.
I couldn’t believe it when I saw the likes of Joe Montana describing AB’s behaviors as “crazy” a few wks ago. But then it occurred to me how often we use this as a pass-off. We don’t understand the behavior, so it’s easier to label it & the person, & move on w the attitude – they’re just “like that.”
And the thing is, no they’re not/we’re not. Behaviors like that are cries for help. They are peeks into what lies beneath the surface. If we approached situations like that in the future, asking “how can we help” & “what might have happened TO them”…we’ll all be much better off.
