“The examples are endless but my philosophy is simple. Once I knew my seed, I was able to discover my muse and my purpose for being was crystal clear.” – Kobe Bryant
Yesterday, NBA legend and Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash. I’m sure you’ve heard, so I’ll spare you the rehashing of the details.
Like many other deaths of notable people, I was initially jolted at the news and immediately began surfing the internet and TV to absorb all of the details of the crash from whatever news outlets I could find reporting on it. Once I realized it was true, I shared a post on Facebook about it, but quickly deleted it. It was everywhere. Clearly people didn’t need me to be the one to report this to them, so I took it down.
More details of the crash trickled out as the day went on. First, Kobe was dead. Then it was Kobe and his daughter, GiGi. Then it was (5) people. And then finally the death toll landed at (9).
Since the news broke, I’ve had some people express sympathy for Kobe’s passing, but have also simultaneously asked questions as to why we allow these types of news stories to affect us so much. Of course it’s big news, but they don’t seem to understand the extensive level of coverage it’s getting. I found myself asking the same question. Why exactly do we allow these types of deaths to have such a profound impact on us?
That said, I don’t often find myself reacting too dramatically to celebrity deaths. Sure, it’s tragic to see them pass and it’s nice to remember them. But, I didn’t know them. They didn’t know me. My life won’t be any different going forward. That figure will just become a little more nostalgic now since they are no longer actively with us. I want to be sad, but I’m usually not. Just being honest.
At the rapid rate news travels these days, the whole world finds out about everything within mere minutes. Largely, I don’t often think most people actually do care all that much about a given celebrity death. We are just all experiencing it together, so we all happen to chime in at the same time and it becomes a huge viral thing.
This one, though. It just feels different. I have never been a Lakers fan. I have never been a Kobe Bryant fan. But it still feels like Kobe is someone that shouldn’t be gone. He was one of the rare sports figures that was an all-time great, but also transcended the sport of basketball. He was working on a huge second act in life and was really beginning to make an impact in the world and the game other than just having been a great player. He was and is influential to millions.
I found myself extra heartbroken that he died with his daughter. That he died with other families. I found myself thinking of his wife and other (3) children. Found myself thinking of the surviving members of the Altobelli family, who lost (3) people in the crash. Everyone effected. I felt genuine hurt, pain, and grief for all involved.
I’m recently married. We have plans to start a family. I think just viewing this type of tragedy now from a different perspective is what’s causing me to react differently to it. How terrible it would be to lose my loved one in such a way. I think anybody that does have a family they love views something like this and thinks the same things. And that’s why we bond together during this time. I personally know a family that HAS lost somebody in this manner, and I know it resonates with them because of that reason.
There is an acute pain that comes with the death of a loved one, the kind that can hollow out a person and leave them to drift aimlessly for weeks and months and ages. For many, the death of a public figure, like Bryant, registers differently. As stated, the vast majority of those who felt Sunday’s loss didn’t know Kobe. They just knew that he had always been there and what he had given them along the way. Being a fan or a spectator, be it with sports, music, acting, or any other spectrum means we are predicated on a commitment to something larger than ourselves, whether a striving team, a civic identity, or the simple magic of a shared experience with others of a common interest.
Kobe was that. And he’ll be missed. Hopefully, his loss and the loss of the others on that helicopter serves to make the rest of us remember our own loved ones and to never take a single minute with them for granted.
God bless.
The Nominal Man 
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