Initially upset, Ezeli’s perspective on the situation is worth a watch
According to an Instagram post from CBS journalist Betty Yu yesterday (July 9, 2021) former Warriors Center Festus Ezeli got his GMC Yukon SUV broken into in broad daylight parked in front of a restaurant in Oakland.
Photos shared show the windows of Ezeli’s Yukon busted on both the side and rear, par for the course for this type of break in.
Captions on the photos read,
“Yesterday on my way to SFO, decided to stop by Oakland for lunch and…da**, this one hurt.”
“Jokers took everything! In broad daylight too in front of a busy restaurant. If you see some folks walking around in some 17s…”
“But forreal, I got so much love for The Town (Oakland) and The Bay. Crazy to see the crime getting bad like this.”
Yu comments vehicular break-ins like this are endemic for San Francisco and Oakland, rates increasing as much as 700+ percent in touristy hot spots like Pier 39 and Chinatown.
Reports from SFPD claim this trend is only going to get worse as visitors flood in from surrounding cities as COVID restrictions are lifted.
Ezeli’s insightful reflection on his break-in
These past few days haven’t been the best for Ezeli, at least that’s how us outsiders would view it. On top of his Yukon being broken into, Nigeria announced its 16-man roster for the Olympics and, for the second time since 2016, Team Nigeria did not select Ezeli.
Despite this arguably rotten week, Ezeli took a glass half full approach grounded by his faith in God and shared his two cents on the matter.
In a 4-minute video Ezeli usually posts on Fridays Ezeli had this to say about his situation.
“I had an old teammate of mine call me yesterday to say ‘I was calling you to say I’m sorry about the Nigeria team yesterday and then I saw on your story about your car getting broken into and man, it’s been a tough couple weeks (for you.) Maybe you got a string of bad luck?’ “
“We tend to label things good or bad based on what we see in the moment.”
Ezeli recounts a Taoist story about a farmer who goes through what looks like setbacks including losing his horse and his son breaking his leg. Despite these setbacks, his horse returns with three wild horses in tow and the war council, drafting able-bodied soldiers, looks over his son for his broken legs.
You can read the full story here.
Ezeli brings the story home and wraps up his post by saying
“God has way bigger plans for you no matter what it is going on in your life. When something happens to me, just as it’s been happening this week or so, it’s not like a bunch of bad things are happening, it’s two things.”
“Something bad happens, move on because there’s something good that’s coming on the other side. There’s so much positivity, if you keep focusing on the negative, you’re going to lose yourself in this world.”
It’s cliche to say the only thing you can really control is your reaction to a situation. Ezeli’s response is indicative of a man of faith. Even a break-in might turn into something inherently good in the grand scheme of things.
We can all take a page from Ezeli’s experience whether it’s a setback restoring a project car or just having what, at the moment, seems like an unlucky turn of events.
Hopefully’s Ezeli’s latest break-in can shed even more light on a county and city-wide situation clearly out of control.
