It has become a pastime to shame those who leave their houses during the coronavirus pandemic. Celebrities, including NBA players, have urged people to stay home. People have even been encouraged to call the police when spotting others not social distancing.
Dwyane Wade is again showing his thoughtfulness.
Wade, via the NBA’s YouTube:I haven’t came out and said a lot on it. And I’m just keeping it real, because a lot of people are coming out and saying like, “Stay at home and do this and do that.” And they reach out to a lot of celebrities to do that. And it’s a lot easier for celebrities to say “stay at home” when your home looks the way it looks, and you have everything at your home that you need. And so far and so on.
In a sense for me, I feel like we’re so lucky, we’re so blessed. And everyone isn’t in the same position that the ones that’s out talking on the front line are.
So, it’s been a little hard for me to come out and put those messages out, even though, like I said, we’ve definitely got to play as a team. To beat this, we’ve all got to get on the same page and we’ve definitely got to stay in and make sure we’re taking care of ourselves to help take care of others.
But it’s been hard for me to come out and say, “Hey, stay at home, this and that,” because I’m living in a mansion. You know what I mean? And we have things at our home that a lot of people don’t have.
So, this world that we live in and has never been equal. There’s a lot of communities out there that have never felt what equality really – what people talk about. Right now, we’re trying to make everybody equal. But the world has never been that way.
And so, it’s been hard for me as someone who lives a life of privilege to come out and really say a lot of those things, even though, yes, it needs to be said, it needs to be done, because we definitely need everybody to play together.Wade’s former Heat teammate, Udonis Haslem, endorsed Wade’s message. Haslem pointed out his letter in The Players Tribune, which criticized spring breakers in Florida, included careful wording (emphasis mine):
If you got a roof over your head and some food in your fridge and you don’t have to go to work to feed your family, just do the easiest thing in the world, man.
F*** your spring break.
Just keep your ass at home.I’d encourage everyone to socially distance as much as reasonably possible. That will make it better for those who can’t, including healthcare workers and people who can’t wait to earn money.
