The Kid from Akron is back at it again. In full swing of the 2018 season, at 33 years old, he’s looking young as ever as he entertains one of his best seasons to date. He’s averaging more assists than he ever has in his career, as of late (8.6). He’s getting on the boards and making more blocks better than most people his age or his length of tenure in the league.

However, signs of aging, frustration or maybe even just the fact that he is passing more, have led to more turnovers than he’s ever had before.

LeBron James solidified himself among the greats, once again, as he secured his place as the seventh and youngest player to ever score 30,000 points in a career. There’s only so many milestones left for this man to break. He is no doubt the best player of his generation.

The King.

But, why after a simple Instagram post, are we all of a sudden mocking and degrading someone with so much accomplishment? Why are we taking the words he says out of context to use as a platform against him? How can anyone, who’s never accomplished half of what LeBron has done in his life, be able to degrade and suffocate such a great achievement?

There is a great thing in the human mind, an emotion, called nostalgia. This makes you think about the times you’ve experienced and gives you the ability to relive a past moment. A sweet memory.

There used to be a time when people would actually write words on paper. It’s a crazy idea, but before computers or cellphones or any kind of word template that didn’t consist of a pen and quill, there was actual writing. Heart bleeding as ink onto a paper. In that time, there was a certain and almost involuntary necessity for a nostalgic feeling of accomplishment and the need to remember where you have come from. This is known as a letter-to-self.

Now, in today’s modern and technology-based society we, more often than not, focus our attention on what’s on the screen rather than the meaning of what’s on the screen. We focus on the status of superstars rather than the fact that they are just one of us. When you or I make a mistake, we can hide it. We can prove to ourselves that we made a mistake and that there was a reason for it, and who’s to tell us different?

But the moment someone in the spotlight takes a stance, becomes controversial, or even makes a mistake, the media and the “fans” are the first to blast them.

On January 23, King James posted a picture of his younger self. In this picture, he captioned,

“Wanna be the first to Congratulate you on this accomplishment/achievement tonight that you’ll reach.”

Most people thought of this as another superstar getting cocky or thinking about only himself. I can see how some would think about that. However, reading the rest of this caption, it seems to be very humbling:

“. . . you should be very proud and honored to be invited inside . . .” followed by, “There’s so many people to thank who has help this even become possible (so thank them all) . . .”

Excuse me, but this is going to be my hot take now.

Not that there should be much time spent on this, because, overall, it isn’t a big deal and shouldn’t even be debated. But some of you out there refuse to believe that these superstars, these professionals, that most us and modern society look up to, don’t have feelings or hearts. You believe they are just robots, machines, numb. But unlike those things, they are just like you and me.

They have feelings. They have hearts. They have nostalgia.

But because of their platform, they’re not allowed to feel or have faults. Because they seem to be so perfect, something all of us strive to be, you create mass mutiny the moment there is a mistake. The moment they say something controversial or contending with our own beliefs, they become like pariahs to society. People with different opinions who call themselves “fans” swell into a horde of insurrectionists and I am fed up.

We look up to those we want to be like one minute, and the next minute we degrade them and speak of them with disgust.

It’s arbitrary. It’s irrational. It’s ludicrous.

All who were fans of LeBron before his seemingly nostalgic and emotional letter/picture-to-self, and then demeaned him, should be ashamed of themselves.

It’s jealousy. It’s envy. It’s insecure.

I’m not one to back LeBron up, more so to the fact that I’m an Atlanta Hawks fan and he’s done nothing but humiliatingly destroy them in the postseason, but some things need to be addressed.

This man has achieved so much in his career; even if he had been cocky about it, why should it matter? He’s accomplishing something only six other players have done. He has every right to be proud of such a feat. He’s done something 99 percent of us haven’t: being a professional basketball player. He’s done something most in pro basketball haven’t done: win a title, let alone three. He’s even won league MVP four times.

Get off his back let him have the moment he wants. Let him bask in the glory of being successful and accomplished for a day.

If anything, please, just once, let him be human.