Jeremy Lin Shares Misconception About Athletes While Bonding With the Homeless
Jeremy Lin is hoping to encourage people not to judge those who are battling homelessness.
Lin, the 26-year-old Los Angeles Lakers guard, took to his YouTube channel to let people know what a day in his life looked like during the All-Star break. Lin drove to upstate New York with his entire family to visit the athlete's younger brother.
The point guard and his brother cooked traditional Chinese food such as pan fried dumplings and shared their traditions with homeless people in the park for Chinese New Year.
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"Hopefully the stories in this video encourage us to not jump to conclusions about individuals going through a time of homelessness, but to graciously love them and be willing to hear their stories," Lin wrote in the description of the video. "I know meeting Louis, Kevin and Angel was an invaluable experience for me."
Lin had a heart-to-heart moment with the three homeless people he shared the meal with.
"A big misconception about celebrities, or athletes or entertainers is that we have it all together," Lin said. "A big misconception about homelessness or homeless people is that they have nothing together."
Kevin, one of the homeless men that Lin met, talked about some of the inaccurate stereotypes that some have about homelessness.
"People believe that those who are homeless don't want to do better for themselves," Kevin explained in the video. "They don't want to work, or they don't want to go to school, or be closer to their families, when in reality that's not true at all."
Lin further emphaised his belief that spending time with the less fortunate is an invaluable experience, noting: "I just think it's a valuable thing to do — just to sit down and learn some of the stories, find ways in which you can understand who they are. Relate to them, sympathize, empathize with what they've been through versus always feeling like, alright, I'm going to judge you based on what I see."
The video ended with the scripture Mark 12:30-31 which reads: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart. ... Love your neighbor as yourself."
Lin previously explained that he "reset" his "mindstate" during the All-Star break, which has him playing in more of an attack mode with a "free mind." Most importantly, Lin is remembering his reason for playing these days, win or lose.
"It's like while I'm playing, I'm reminding myself that regardless of the results, just play, play for God," Lin said. "It seems like very basic, but when you care a lot about the game, you really care about the results, obviously."
