Barlow’s giving should be an inspiration around the holidays

It’s that time of year once again. The holidays. A time to reflect on the things, both naughty… It’s that time of year once again. The holidays. A time to reflect on the things, both naughty and nice, that you’ve done since last time Santa paid you a visit.

Most of you haven’t done anything bad this year – maybe shameful and embarrassing, but not bad. But have you really done anything good this year?

Can you think of something completely selfless that you’ve done to help out someone else or to make not only his or her day, but possibly his or her week or month, or even year?

I bet the answer is no.

Now, I’m not here to come down on you for doing nothing. Heck, I do nothing. I am the king of doing nothing. I find myself thinking, on too many occasions, things like, “Hey, this ‘Bron-‘Melo matchup one week into the season might be the greatest game ever” or “I don’t care if it is Miami versus San Diego, it’s my obligation to watch Monday Night Football.”

Personally, I’ve wasted a good portion of my waking hours engrossed in the Lakers dismantling the Clippers or the Phillies taking on the Mets in some meaningless game in early April.

Never once have I thought about peeling myself off the couch to go volunteer my time at the hospital or homeless shelter. That requires work. Work is neither easy nor fun. When it takes on those traits, it becomes play. And we’re all college students. Play is not a word we’re likely to hear in a couple years. So I figure it’s my duty to slack off now whenever possible.

But my perspective has begun to change ever since I read a story about former Pitt and current San Francisco 49ers running back Kevan Barlow.

The story, written about a month ago by espn.com’s Stacey Pressman and published on Page 2 (which, by the way, ranks just behind the forward pass as the greatest sports invention in history), chronicled a day that Ms. Pressman spent with Barlow – a day in San Quentin State Prison.

It turns out that Barlow often spends his day off visiting with the prison’s chaplain – who is also the 49ers’ team pastor – and with inmates. The inmates he visits aren’t necessarily your white-collar embezzlers or petty thieves. They are gang members and violent criminals. And most often, they are convicted murders.

Barlow visits with the “good murderers” as Pressman refers to them. He talks to them about getting on the right path in life, gives them football tips and signs autographs for them. To sum it up, he makes their day.

As one inmate put it, “It gives me encouragement that someone out there thinks I am, in fact, redeemable.”

This man is a murderer. He killed an innocent person. And Barlow’s visit reinforces the humanity inside him.

Now many of you are probably thinking that Barlow is a horrible person. I mean, come on, he gives solace and hope to convicted killers. These people don’t deserve redemption. They deserve the same pain and suffering that they inflicted on the families of their victims. Barlow must have no idea what he’s doing.

But that’s where the twist to this story comes in. While Barlow was playing in the 1999 Backyard Brawl, two of his uncles were shot breaking up a neighborhood fight. One of them died from the gunshot wounds. His killer is now spending the rest of his life rotting away in a Pennsylvania prison.

So Barlow knows what it’s like to suffer the heartbreak of losing a loved one to senseless violence. He knows, yet he still visits these men who have forever damaged people the way he was damaged only a few years ago.

He understands the irony of the situation and he knows that he couldn’t sit around and chat about sports with his uncle’s murderer.

And yet he still trudges to that prison on off-days instead of relaxing or shopping with teammate Terrell Owens.

Barlow is a professional athlete. He’s a young and a pretty successful one at that. If you were in his place, wouldn’t you rather go shopping for a new Beamer or just take in the beautiful California weather?

I can say with complete disdain for myself that I would. I’m not proud of that, but it’s true. What about you? Would you spend your free time worrying about someone else’s well-being over your own? Would you go spend time with the scum of America just to try to change someone’s life?

Barlow isn’t alone in being an athlete who helps others. Many athletes work with charities or have ones of their own. They raise money for cancer research or visit sick children in the hospital. Athletes are quite often seen giving away their time and money to worthy causes. Some athletes do this because they want to, others because they feel they have to.

Is Barlow any different from the rest? He works with people not to save their lives, but to save their souls. Is that any better?

Maybe Barlow’s story will inspire you to help someone out. Maybe you will just disregard it with everything else you read in this paper. Either way, that’s a decision you have to make on your own.

Raymond Newby is a staff writer for The Pitt News. He hopes that, when you’re lounging around the house on Dec. 25, watching Shaq eat up Yao like a Christmas turkey, Barlow’s story is still in your mind. E-mail him at rsn4@pitt.edu.