Far too long have Asian American men had been desperately seeking an Asian male role model to look up to outside the relic of Bruce Lee, though an unadulterated actor, fighter, philosopher and legend by anyones standards, Lin on the other hand has graced the front pages of major newspapers, magazines, mainstream media and entertainment outlets. Most Asian American parents that I knew of growing up didn't encourage their children to go into professional sports. The main focus has always been studying, which isn't a always a bad thing, but Lin achieved more than that. As a Harvard graduate, Lin not only turned the conventional wisdom surrounding Asian American men on its head, that of course being strictly academic, un-athletic and feeble, but also made up for the lost time and painful setback by the American idol reject William Hung.
No offense William. You seemed pretty clueless that America was laughing at you. For the rest of the AA guys out there, myself included, we were cringing at your embarrassing performance. Why none of your male Asian friends told you that you were making a complete fool of yourself and setting back the entire AA community 20 years is beyond me.
Linsanity electrified audiences nationwide and provoked a serious discussion regarding racism against Asians, males especially, in America. A discussion that's been long overdue with respect to the quiet discrimination and bamboo ceiling that AA males encounter all too often whenever they aspire to take on leadership roles or the center stage for the public's viewing. It spurred contentious dialogue about the lack of AA male athletes in all professional sports, how often they get overlooked because of their God-given, immutable ethnicity and even bled into other controversial social issues such as its influence on interracial relationships and business.
Yes, Lin was the talk of the town even in corporate America. Business bloggers were jumping on the bandwagon publishing pieces on how to succeed professionally by following Lin's work ethic and perseverance. Remember Forbes' article back in February? Just Lin Baby! 10 Lessons Jeremy Lin Can Teach Us Before We Go To Work Monday Morning.
Okay, so Jeremy Lin didn't amass over a billion views on YouTube like Psy did and have everyone in the world doing an infectious horse-riding dance, which by the way is nothing to sneeze at. But, Jeremy Lin is someone who resonates with me more...a lot more. Finally, the spotlight is on someone who is like me in a significant way. We're both American.
And to close this out, I'd like to thank all of my readers out there where ever you are. I hope Destroy To Rebuild has instilled some insight and inspired you to go out there and be a better Asian man in 2013. Happy New Year!
