My Nickel’s Worth

Last week, I discussed my favorite baseball player of all time, Derek Jeter. Never would I have dreamed that I would be discussing the death of one of my other favorite athletes growing up, Kobe Bryant.

This is still just surreal to me. I grew up playing sports, wanting to work as hard as he did and always striving towards wanting to get better and better every day in baseball and basketball. Kobe was my favorite basketball player before the Oklahoma City and Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook came along. I resonated with him because I was always wanting to be as good as I possibly could be at sports…and I could just see his passion and love for the game with every game and interview he had. That made me want to work harder, because he knew nobody would outwork him. I took that to heart, and I will continue to do so in everything I do.

I know he wasn’t a perfect person, but he truly strived for greatness in all aspects of life… with basketball, life after his retirement, writing books, and most of all, the love he had for his family. Kobe and Gianna were actually on their way to a basketball game when the crash occurred. Kobe’s sole focus after his playing career was to spend time with his family after the many years of sacrifice his family had to make during his time in the NBA. He loved his wife and daughters more than anything.

I have never had a celebrity death hit me the way this one did. But to make this news further devastating, it was confirmed that his 13-year old daughter was in the helicopter with him. This broke my heart. As the day went along with continued information on the crash, it was announced that there were seven others along with Kobe and his daughter Gianna. All nine of these lives are equally as valuable, and learning much about the passengers since the accident, it breaks me. The pilot, who was a husband and father, a father, mother, and young daughter…leaving behind two of their children, a son and daughter, losing a sister. A basketball coach for the mamba academy, leaving behind a husband and three daughters and two sisters who leaving their parents and other siblings.

This accident just reminds me that life is short, life is precious. We need to make every day, every moment count. We do not get tomorrow back. As a Christian, this reminds me of how short of time we have to make an impact while we are on this earth. It makes me see the bigger picture, That in the end Jesus is Lord, and we must follow Him until the day he calls us home.