Mamba Memories: Reflections on Kobe Bryant and the Transience of Life
The news broke like a contagion across the world and grief seeped through the veins of the internet into our heavy hearts. What started as tweets gathered momentum and in a matter of minutes, Kobe was trending. It was all true. He was gone, together with his 13-year-old daughter, Gigi, and seven other passengers in a helicopter crash. Cruel world! The shock is still raw and I type these words with faltering fingers.
I couldn’t process it. It didn’t make sense to me. These are the kind of stories that unsettle our minds by testing faiths and uprooting beliefs. Kobe was a good man; a faithful father and husband, a great example of a human being. Why did he have to die so painfully? What happened in there as he watched his life, that of his daughter and the others fade right before his eyes? I kept wondering without answers.
Hours later, I saw one status update that really hit me. “This is just life. None of us will make it out alive anyway” it said. That statement struck a chord with me. Think about it. We are all going to make that exit one day. But, until then, what are we doing with the limited time we have? Are we living or merely existing? What will the world remember us for? What is holding us back from doing what we desire most?
Kobe may have left us without warning at 41 but he left his mark on the game of basketball and sports entertainment in general. I'm not a big fan of basketball but Kobe’s presence and his love for FC Barcelona drew me to follow him closely. Watch him on any TV show or interview and you would appreciate him as a consummate gentleman.
It is widely held that Kobe wore his famous number 24 because of his belief that we must work round the clock if we want to get to the top. Mamba Mentality. 24 hours. That’s all we have in a day. No one gets more and no one gets less but we can do more or less within that same time. I once watched a motivational piece voiced by one of Kobe’s trainers about his commitment to excellence.
He narrated how Kobe worked like a beast in recovery. He said he would wake up to messages from Kobe saying he had taken the lead to the gym and then rush off to join him only to meet Kobe drenched in sweat around 4 in the morning. Not many beginners have that work ethic but certainly not Kobe. He never outgrew the need for improvement.
Right there. Kobe followed his passion right after high school and never looked back. As he pursued excellence, fulfilment, Olympic Gold Medals, Championship trophies, MVP Awards, fame and fortune pursued him. What will be our story?
Dr Ravi Zacharias captured in words what struggled to express when he said: “such sudden losses bring all of us into the sobering reality of an appointment we have to keep and the vaporous span of life.”
As we mourn with the Bryant family and the others who have been bereaved, may we also reflect on our own inescapable appointment and begin to pour ourselves into our calling before the unexpected happens.
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| Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi. |
I couldn’t process it. It didn’t make sense to me. These are the kind of stories that unsettle our minds by testing faiths and uprooting beliefs. Kobe was a good man; a faithful father and husband, a great example of a human being. Why did he have to die so painfully? What happened in there as he watched his life, that of his daughter and the others fade right before his eyes? I kept wondering without answers.
Hours later, I saw one status update that really hit me. “This is just life. None of us will make it out alive anyway” it said. That statement struck a chord with me. Think about it. We are all going to make that exit one day. But, until then, what are we doing with the limited time we have? Are we living or merely existing? What will the world remember us for? What is holding us back from doing what we desire most?
Kobe may have left us without warning at 41 but he left his mark on the game of basketball and sports entertainment in general. I'm not a big fan of basketball but Kobe’s presence and his love for FC Barcelona drew me to follow him closely. Watch him on any TV show or interview and you would appreciate him as a consummate gentleman.
It is widely held that Kobe wore his famous number 24 because of his belief that we must work round the clock if we want to get to the top. Mamba Mentality. 24 hours. That’s all we have in a day. No one gets more and no one gets less but we can do more or less within that same time. I once watched a motivational piece voiced by one of Kobe’s trainers about his commitment to excellence.
He narrated how Kobe worked like a beast in recovery. He said he would wake up to messages from Kobe saying he had taken the lead to the gym and then rush off to join him only to meet Kobe drenched in sweat around 4 in the morning. Not many beginners have that work ethic but certainly not Kobe. He never outgrew the need for improvement.
Right there. Kobe followed his passion right after high school and never looked back. As he pursued excellence, fulfilment, Olympic Gold Medals, Championship trophies, MVP Awards, fame and fortune pursued him. What will be our story?
Dr Ravi Zacharias captured in words what struggled to express when he said: “such sudden losses bring all of us into the sobering reality of an appointment we have to keep and the vaporous span of life.”
As we mourn with the Bryant family and the others who have been bereaved, may we also reflect on our own inescapable appointment and begin to pour ourselves into our calling before the unexpected happens.
If the dead knew how quickly the living forgets about them they would have lived their lives pleasing no one but themselves..
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing on how great this Man was , and how well he lived his life. It's not about how long but how well. Thanks for giving us the charge. Every minute counts.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you Epic.