Those were just three of the “hot spot” issues that currently magnify the societal dangers of continued mental health lip service. Three more subtle epidemics that are completely embedded in our society and may be more pernicious are caffeine, dehydration, and sleep disturbance. If that doesn’t encapsulate the hyper dynamic nature of the mental health crisis, only you eclipsing your own despair threshold will.

While the majority of achieving and maintaining wellness is an individual endeavor, we must acknowledge the role of socializing structures as potential conduits or obstructions to that ambition.

V

THE AUTOPSY

This was an excerpt from the charter of our leagues mandatory, Rookie Transition Program that I attended shortly after being drafted. It was placed at the end of the first letter I wrote to you.

There is a special emphasis on Character, Ethics and Leadership, the Importance of Positive Images as well as Personal and Social Responsibility."

You may wonder why I have pushed so insistently for the NBA to engage the mental health topic over the last 5 years. First order of course is the basic health of the players, all of the employees and also the owners. Though outside of that the NBA influences millions, if not billions of individuals directly. That influence is not only in their love of sports, but their integration with modern culture. As a lifelong athlete, I have willingly subscribed to the notion that I am by default a role model. At a young age I recognized my unequaled ability to lead. I take that quality very seriously. At times I have let God down by neglecting and misusing that gift. I am and will pay for those transgressions. Now I ASK YOU, if athletes are role models by default, is the same not true for the leagues that broker their talent; the networks that distribute that talent; and ALL OTHERS THAT ARE EQUALLY COMPLICIT? Is the NBA itself not a role model?, ESPN (Walt Disney)?, ABC?, TNT?, State Farm?, Verizon?, Nike?, Spalding?, Budweiser? How about more peripheral sponsors? Coca-Cola, Gatorade, Kia, Chevron, Jack Daniels, KAISER PERMANENTE, etc.? Is mental health avoidance by an amalgamated institution of this size not a microcosm of the avoidance by us all? Is this leadership? Is this the way to shape our world?

I’ve spent a great deal of time explaining some of the depth and nuance of the mental health landscape. I can’t say enough about the need for us to confront this issue with open minds and hearts. Our very existence is counting on properly expediting our enlightenment. Although mental health is undoubtedly the bedrock of this letter, the MOHO is hidden deeper in a sediment that has continued to be expressed by numerous people in our industry. “You’re too smart for your own good”. I pray that in my older age, intellectual insecurity and fear of change will never cause me to discourage the anomaly of existential journeymen -- visionary crusaders. That message came from older white men. I won’t overlook the vivid historical context of premeditated attempts to suppress black intellect in America. To suggest that it was foolish to focus my attention on THEE SOCIAL ISSUE OF OUR TIME sounds strikingly like “shut up and dribble”. That comment is not intended in any way to race bait. I will hopefully split the difference by sharing that there are a number of my fellow “white” brothers and sisters whom have been significant supporters in my standing for morality and ethics. I do feel like race has played a role in my situation. However, I mention it with inference that mental health includes, but ALSO greatly supersedes race. The fear of intelligence and change is not exclusive to the American paradigm of “black and white”. That human proclivity has archetypal emergence.

We’ve erected a unique world. PHILOSOPHICAL CURRENCY is our best option to realign us to a path of virtue. Those amongst us who commit to that can’t justifiably be labeled “lost and confused”. We ARE “noble” and we are the observers of the meta-temporal. Adrian Wojnarowski once claimed with an air of surety that “Without the NBA, (my) desire to bring awareness – to be a champion for change – will come to an unapologetic and abrupt end.” This type of thought process fails to see that the human condition (struggle) connects us many orders below the surface of sports stories or their writers. Both of which could be of great service or harm to the mental health conversation. Regardless, those of us with “noble intentions” maintain a level of gravity within that nobility. We will always lead, we are not in NEED of propagation. Humanity has a chance to turn a corner through the psychological domain. We should let the mental health topic galvanize our deepest desires to right our world and realize some of America’s founding aspirations.

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” – Psalm 118:22

Be Well

Royce Alexander White

P.S. I welcome any of you who wish to continue these conversations and collaborate on truly advancing this issue. I’m hopeful that for a number of you most of this letter’s contents come as quite a surprise. At least from the accounts that involve various operational matters. It’s very easy for information to be miscommunicated. The media has definitely played a major role in that, which is why I’ll continue to show up and right any of those wrongs. Clarity is the short and long term goal of wellness conversations. Also, I’m completely capable and willing to play (basketball) and I always have been. In the interest of getting a chance to settle any disputes about my game or my claim of “top 5” basketball pedigree, I retract my request to bus to any games. I do not retract that it was medically recommended or a reasonable request. However I no longer accept “martyrdom” as a result of necessary discussions.

My game has more it wants to say than my pen does.