On January 26th 2020, a tragedy occured. As I was on the 4th floor library concentrated on studying for my upcoming sociology midterm, my phone received a notification. It was from my news app, legendary basketball player, Kobe Bryant along with 13 year old daughter Gigi Bryant, have passed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California at approximately 9-10 am. I was surprised, thinking of it as a joke, I heard a table of ZBT guys talking about it, all I hear in the library was “that’s crazy” or “no it can’t be, what about the Grammys?!”
The Sunday of January 26th was the day the earth froze, at least America. It was a day of mourning and reminiscing about their beautiful memories on Twitter and Instagram. I chose to dedicate this article to Kobe and Gigi as they are and will always be beautiful angels who have left us on earth a message: live each day as if it were your last, hold your loved ones dear to your heart and show them you appreciate them every single minute of every single day. Often times society keeps us humans wrapped around the notion that we need to have a career that pays well, we need to do well on our midterms and finals and we need to have our life managed properly in order to fit into this realm of existence we call society. What many do not realize, however, is we tend to be so busy doing such things we ignore our loved ones in the process.
If you are in college and reading this, take time to love your friends, they might only be in your life for a short amount of time. Love your family, endlessly. Call home even if it is only once a week. They miss you and want to hear your voice. It is tragic that such terrible events occur in order for individuals to reflect on what life really is about: loving every single person who loves you. Life is temporary. In 5 years, the result of that midterm won’t matter and the argument you and your roommate got in over who didn’t wash the dishes last night won’t matter. The way life is set up, it doesn’t care if you have plans for next year, next week, even tomorrow. Sadly, our presence in this world is not promised and we must live each day as if it were our last. We must tell our loved ones how much we love them each and every day.
Kobe Bryant will not only remain a legendary basketball player, he will remain a girl dad, one who was family oriented, loved his family with all his being, protected his princesses and protected his queen. Gianna Bryant’s memory will remain as a true angel who lived her life positively, passionately, while doing what made her happy surrounded by those who genuinely loved her.
May our angels, Kobe and Gianna, rest in peace and may the mamba mentality live on.
#2 and #24 forever.