When I got a text message from my brother that read, “Kobe Bryant died this morning,” my stomach dropped. It dropped just as it always does when I receive or hear sad news, but something felt heavy about this.
As the day went on, I couldn’t help but feel heartbroken. Even though Kobe Bryant never made a huge impact on me before hearing this news, he has now. As I noticed how powerful his death is to the rest of the country, maybe even the world, I began to realize just how big of an impact he made on some people. For some, Kobe Bryant was their hero…and now, they are learning to cope with such loss.
I too, have lost my hero.
Whenever I was asked to describe a hero of mine, I always explained how awesome I thought my uncle was and how he was saving other people’s lives by putting his on the line. I saw that as something very admirable, and probably the reason I saw him as my hero. Everything he did was amazing to me, he was such a special figure in my life, one I looked up to.
That’s why I can relate to the brokenness some are feeling about Kobe. Our heroes aren’t supposed to die, or so I thought. They’re supposed to be our heroes forever, right?
When I went to bed, I was thinking about this, and I realized that they are still your heroes forever, even if they’re no longer here with us on earth.
It’s not easy to understand that, but I always go back to the famous ponder of why do the best people leave us, and sometimes too soon? For those people, I like to believe that they needed to go be someone else’s hero, and make an impact on someone else’s life.
For the people who are mourning the loss of Kobe Bryant right now, think about what impact he leaves on your life, and what you can go on to do with that. If your hero is someone other than Kobe Bryant, think about what they have given to you, and pay that forward to someone else. Learn from your heroes, keep their legacies alive, and strive to make an impact on someone else’s life. Our heroes don’t want us to be sad that they’re gone, but happy that they were once here to change our lives, and that will live on forever.