Roberto Clemente Impact On Society

Roberto Clemente: One of the Greatest to Ever Live
Roberto Clemente once said, “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth,” (Big Think Editors). The grand majority of people on Earth would not devote themselves to impacting the world forever. In fact, many people today shun the needs of those who need their help most. However, Clemente based his entire existence upon this single quote, and consequently left an ever-lasting impact on the world. Society as a whole has benefitted from Roberto Clemente due to his baseball accolades, his charitable acts, and his role in ending segregation.
Roberto Clemente was an extremely important man on and off the baseball
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Clemente gave back to the less fortunate children and families of his community by managing the Puerto Rican Amateur World Series team in 1972 and fulfilling his life-long dream of holding free baseball clinics to Puerto Rican children. Clemente impacted his community so positively and permanently, and his influence is still seen today in the stadium named after him in Puerto Rico. He provided a role model for these kids whom he had impacted and changed their lives forever. Also, Clemente was very humble about his acts of charity, keeping the public and media oblivious to many of his deeds. Ramiro Martinez, a Puerto Rican sportscaster once said of Clemente that, “he did not take photographers or cameramen, nor did he tell anyone. He enjoyed it alone” (Berrios). His humbleness was so great that the media did not know of a Nicaraguan boy who was without legs and had parents who could not provide prosthetics for him due to the dictator of Nicaragua during that time, Anastasio Somoza. Clemente personally cared to him and his needs, but the boy tragically died later in the devastating earthquake. Such humbleness is a trait of a wonderful humanitarian who did not care about being glorified for doing such acts, but instead simply wanted to better the lives of others. Another exploit which made Clemente a virtuous humanitarian was the fact that after a detrimental earthquake
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To begin, some may argue that he handled his situation with the media poorly. An idol for his people and young people to admire should be able to handle media situations gracefully and in a more professional fashion, as opposed to complaining of ailments and becoming enraged as he so often did. Doing so does not set a good example for one who is regarded as a hero and model. For example, his self-possession was taken by many as conceit, a characteristic which many find undesirable. He once said, “For me, I am the best ballplayer in the world,” (Beschloss). Those who believed he was being conceited also believe that this was a very negative quality that made him less of a role model, and that he should instead be humbler. On top of that, Clemente was not the only player who was impacted by segregation. Other men had roles in ending segregation as Clemente did, such as Minnie Minoso, a Latino baseball player who came before Clemente and may have even helped to bring Clemente into the league. Although he was significant, he was assisted by the other Latino and black players surrounding him at the time. Also, many other equally exceptional humanitarians aided the people of Nicaragua and Clemente was simply one of them and could not have made such an impact alone. While tragic, Clemente was not the only passenger aboard the plane which crashed and killed him. Many equally dedicated