This One Is Different

Death is an unfortunate yet imminent reality that every human being is well aware of. There is an end to every life as much as there is a beginning. We are finite in every way and throughout the ripples of human history, there are moments that come to remind us of this finite nature and limited duration we have on earth. On the morning of Sunday, January 26th, 2020 one such moment arrived. I remember back in September 11, 2001 exactly where I was when I heard the news that two planes had collided into the Twin Towers in New York City. I remember exactly who I was with and what we were talking about. My computer science teacher, Mr. Brown, walked in and stopped class to inform us of the news. Going home that afternoon and watching the video of those planes smashing into those towers was unreal. I grew up with video games and computer graphics, and this looked to me like a video game or a movie scene. It was unreal. January 26th, 2020 was the same. I looked at the words on my Twitter feed, "Kobe Bryant dies in a helicopter crash" and I was stunned. I had to re-read those words over and over again to even fathom what this was or what it meant. I thought to myself, "Certainly this is a mistake, this cannot be...they are not talking about THE Kobe Bryant right?" I'm sure the experience was similar, at least based on public testimonials, throughout the globe reacting to this news. Twice in my life I felt that type of disbelief to tragic news, September 11 and Kobe's death.

I grew up a basketball fan in the late 90's to the present day. I watched the tail end of Michael Jordan's career (including the Washington era) as he won his sixth, saw the Laker dynasty of the 2000's come to power, witnessed the greatness of LeBron unfold before my eyes, and I fell in love with the game through players like; Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson, Shaq, Jason Kidd, and etc. But one man was a constant, a definer of the era and the quintessential common denominator across the game. He is the face of basketball post-Michael Jordan and the supreme voice of excellence in the game. The numbers don't matter with Kobe because what every child of my era knows is that the only things that counts with Kobe were his rings and his will to win. I remember playing basketball almost every day with my friends during recess and we would always claim a player to be as we went into battle. And everybody wanted to Kobe.

Throughout my life I have experienced many celebrity deaths; Michael Jackson, Anthony Bourdain, Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, Princess Diana, Prince and others. But this one was different. It's weird because, like every other celebrity, I had no personal relationship to Kobe and he isn't even my favourite player, just simply someone I admired for his will and dedication to his craft. Some have stated that this particular death hit people really hard because he was someone we all watched grow into a man, someone that was still young, someone that was well on his way to a new successful career off the court and because he was someone we all knew in some way. You don't need to love basketball to know the name 'Kobe.' But humanity has had young celebrities leave too soon before, popular icons take their own lives, and transcendent figures pass away suddenly. We have witnessed accidents, suicides, drug overdoses and assassinations; but Kobe dying hit hard. Why?

I think this one was different because although the end of every life is an imminent truth, death is still a hard pill to swallow. Imagine Adam and Eve, who themselves never witnessed human death, coming to grips with the loss of their son Abel at the hands of their other son Cain. Imagine the disciples on the night of Christ's arrest, losing their mentor and beloved teacher, Jesus. There is no parallel in importance between Abel, Jesus and Kobe. Jesus' death is something else altogether but what can be paralleled is the sense of loss that those around those figures experienced. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make a case that Kobe was some greater being, but I am intrigued by the reaction that our culture is showing. I think it's because we know a tragedy when we see it. When those other celebrities died, it may have been big news but it didn't hurt like it did with Kobe to the masses. Because Kobe's death was a tragedy. He wasn't overdosing on drugs, he didn't commit suicide, he wasn't a drunkard and he wasn't committing acts that were harmful to him. Nor did he have any mental illnesses or disorders that caused his death. He was a happy guy with a great career, well on his way to another. He was enjoying fatherhood and marriage. This was an accident and a tragedy; the instant feeling or thought is, "what could have happened differently to avoid this from happening?" Society actually feels like something was taken from them because this one was different. We know loss when we see it. This was a major loss because it was a major tragedy. A man who refused to lose, lost his life too soon. Many times we get news of celebrity deaths and then we get the news of why it happened; and more time than not it makes sense. But Kobe's death didn't make sense and it defined tragedy.

It's okay to mourn. Jesus himself mourned the loss of Lazarus. We can grieve over the dead. The pain will pass and there will be more days. This whole ordeal taught me a lot about the common thread of the human race. We can debate the details of what separates us, but it's refreshing at times that even in moments of great sorrow, there is clearly something that bonds us and connects us as human beings. It reminds me that we are all God's creation and made in his image. It reminds me that we all share something called "humanity" and sometimes these reminders come in terrible packages.

God bless you all and God be with you Mamba.