Charles Barkley was severely criticized for proclaiming that athletes are not role models and that parents should be. Charles was on the right track but he needed to elaborate. What I think Charles meant to say is that there are such people as single parents who work two jobs and still manage to raise good kids, Mother Theresa, who selflessly devoted herself to bring hope to others, Martin Luther King Jr., who paid the ultimate cost for his devotion to justice with his life, and Muhammad Ali, who was willing to give up his title and risk prison for his religious objections to the Vietnam war -- these are the people who should be considered role models. The phrase "role model" should be a special title for people who exemplify the essence of civic responsibility. An athlete of 19 years, who has done nothing to better his community, does not deserve the honor of being called a role model. Charles, like myself, wanted the word role model to be reserved for people who deserve it.

Now let's be clear about one thing: if you are in the public eye you do not get to choose whether or not you want to be a role model. People decide that for you. The choice that you do have is to determine what kind of role model you want to be -- a good one or a bad one. Athletes in the public eye are observed very closely by young people, so it is incumbent upon us to act in a manner befitting a good role model. Therein lies the problem: how do professional athletes decide what are the positive virtues of a role model, when they themselves are looking for mentors? For the most part they themselves are young people or kids who have been raised in hostile environments where, in order to survive, they have employed techniques that the larger world would not necessarily accept as legitimate. Nonetheless they used what was at their disposal. By the time most athletes get to the NBA, they are not equipped to be positive role models because they have not had the training to understand what it means to be a good role model. Yes, I believe that athletes should be responsible for acting professionally on and off the court, but the issue is more complicated.

The mere fact that athletes make a lot of money is just not a good enough reason for them to become automatic role models. So although I am baffled by some of the goings on of my peers, as all of us should be, it must be remembered that they are kids, themselves in need of mentoring. The reality of the NBA is that athletes are coming into the League earlier, not later. As a player of five years in the League, I know this is a major concern both for the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). The latter two organizations holds a week conference to provide young athletes entering the League with information to help them navigate the strange world they have just inherited. And it is just simply unrealistic to think that young players struggling to come to terms with their new life can also be role models.

The other issue that must be made explicit is that being a role model in society today is a Herculean task because people expect perfection. That is impossible. If, during the course of the day, I make 60 percent of my decisions right, I am a happy man. Even role models cannot be expected to be perfect.

But let me end this statement by saying that I believe that part of our moral obligation as professional athletes is to be as positive a role model as we can be. And certainly, that is what I strive for.

- Adonal