I’m going to give Carmelo Anthony credit on this one. If there was one city in the world that’s not on my list of places to go, it’s Rio de Janeiro. Yes, I solely blame the media’s affinity to highlight pretty much all the bad things about the city, but it doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to be there. If I ever did find myself there, the last place I would want to frequent would be the favelas. Really, I probably wouldn’t even leave the airport, but I’m being hypothetical here. I mean, every movie I’ve ever seen about Brazil, someone gets chased, shot or beat up in a favela. So I give Melo credit. Guy put aside the fact that he’s a rich, American professional athlete and took a day to just slum it amongst the less fortunate. It was such an honorable act that, in order to make sure no one ever forgot what he did, he had a mural of himself painted in the favelas.
It’s kind of like when you accidentally start dating a crazy chick and invite her over for the night and she carves her name into your wall. “Now, no matter how far away I am, it’s always like I’m sleeping here with you.” Then like three years later you have to explain to your new girlfriend why you have some chick’s name carved into your wall. If people want to remember and talk about you, they’ll just do that. There’s no reason to shove it down their throats. It’d be like if Melo sat at the Rio Post Office and opened every letter that came through just so he could write ‘P.S. – Met Me7o. He made us a dope mural. Great guy. 10/10 would want to meet him again’ at the bottom of them. You can’t force people to remember you. That’s called historical revisionism which is widely considered unethical. You had your Rio moment, Melo. Don’t let a good thing overstay its welcome.