There are times in life when we are reminded of the inevitability of death. When we are engaged and consumed in our own experiences, we tend to forget that one day our life will come to an end. However, there are other times when we are forced to reconcile with the inescapable fact that one day we will cease to walk this earth.
January 26, 2020 served as a painful reminder of such inevitability. I was scrolling through news notifications when I saw a TMZ article claiming that Kobe Bryant had been in a fatal helicopter accident. I shrugged past the news, assuming it to be fake. After all, I thought, how could someone like Kobe Bryant possibly be dead? I had always thought of him, and celebrities like him, as somehow invincible – living beings whose presence, essence, and being seemed to be larger than life.
So many people were so deeply affected by Kobe Bryant’s passing. Whether you watched him on the court during his triumphant years dominating the world of basketball, or simply knew his name, he was undeniably iconic and impactful. His legacy will extend far beyond the basketball court or even his time on earth.
Credit: Unsplash
However, in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s death, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the way that it’s been handled by the press. The second Bryant had been confirmed dead, the media went into an absolute frenzy. Everywhere you looked, there were articles, broadcasts, and posts. You simply couldn’t escape the story, and neither could Bryant’s loved ones.
There are many wonderful things about being a celebrity like Bryant. He was so loved, and so many people mourned his passing. However, with such status comes a serious price and burden; Bryant’s death was also grotesquely commercialized by the media.
Death is, ironically, part of life. Yet, Bryant’s passing no longer seemed like something human because of how much publicity it received. It lacked something every human has a right to: privacy. Having such a vulnerable situation be so publicly exploited and monetized seems like a violation. Maybe having your death be a public event is preferable to no one caring, but it seems as if we’ve forgotten that Bryant was a man before he was a legend, player, and celebrity. He was human. He loved his family and his life. He needed oxygen to breathe and food to survive, and when it comes down to it, he was just like the rest of us. His death became less human because it was transformed into a spectacle, and that is wrong. Furthermore, Bryant’s family has to constantly see reports of his death. How is that fair to them? Not to mention the other people whose deaths were painfully overshadowed.
Credit: Unsplash
Kobe Bryant’s legacy will extend far beyond his life. He won five championships, All-Star Game MVP Awards, two NBA Finals MVP Awards and a single regular-season MVP Award, and had fifteen All-Star Game appearances. Not to mention, he was a dedicated philanthropist. He was the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in thirteen US cities. With his wife, Bryant also founded the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation (KVBFF). Its goals included, “helping young people in need, encouraging the development of physical and social skills through sports and assisting the homeless.” Bryant wanted more than just a successful basketball career; he had an insatiable thirst for life. There are sad aspects to the commercialization of Bryant’s death, however, there is also beauty in being remembered.
Credit: Unsplash
Being human means so many things. We face so many unique adventures along the way, but there are three pillars we all experience: Birth, life, and death. So, in the end, what we choose to do with that life is all we have. Kobe Bryant, in his brief forty-one years, accomplished so much. Life is finite and death is inevitable, but it’s also beautiful and full of opportunity. Instead of viewing Bryant’s death with sadness, let’s allow his spirit to inspire us to be better, do better, and live better. We only have one life to live, so let’s live it well.
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