#1: After Kobe Bryant’s death

Days before I learned the death of Kobe Bryant, there were two main topics in my “timeline”. Coronavirus just started to spread out and Chinese government takes serious measures of quarantine.  Images of people suffering pass by in my mind.

The second one is the powerful earthquake hit eastern Turkey, the city of Elazig to be more precise.  Again, the images in my “timeline” includes collapsed buildings, fear and astonishment on the faces of survivors and number of victims increasing hour by hour.

Then… the big shock. Kobe Bryant had a helicopter accident.  Very fast we learned that he did not survive the accident.

And all of a sudden, almost all images, messages, shares in my ”timeline” switched to Kobe Bryant. How great he was as player, as a father, as a human.

Yes, he was a legendary player and I really enjoyed watching him playing.  He was only 41 and he had almost everything an ordinary person would like to have in his/her life.  Successful career, a lot of money, status, power, a family, recognition, notoriety etc.

And within minutes, all is gone for him.  Behind, devasted family and mourning friends and millions of fans…

The thing is, by the time passes, let’s say six months later, I will probably forget that he is dead. I will just remember it when I see him in a video or read something about him or his family.  Over the years I will maybe forget how he was died.  And it will go on, maybe years after I will remember him as I remember Magic Johnson today, which means barely, like a childhood story.

My kids, (they are 4 and 6 years old) will probably hear his name among Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Shaquille O’Neil and so on.  Everything said right after his death will not mean anything to my kids.  It will just be a name as a legendary NBA player.

And by the time my kids grow up and have their own kids, the name Kobe Bryant will not mean anything to anybody around my family, unless some of them becomes a sports journalist and decides to make a kind of documentary on NBA legends or gets acquainted with a family member of Kobe.

That reality makes me think of an earthquake victim whose name is not known to me at all.  She also had a life, had kids, maybe a successful career at its own scale, which enabled her to have financially stable life even if she was not the richest person in town.  And suddenly, within minutes, her life disappears just like the life of Kobe Bryant.

We will forget both lives.  One will take us maybe ten minutes and the other will take us two generations. Bu at the end, they both will be forgotten.

At that point, I have a question that I cannot get out of my head… What makes me feel like Kobe Bryant’s life is more important than the life of an earthquake victim?  The only answer I have is because we kind of knew Kobe.

Then, the second question comes; what makes us to dream of becoming Kobe Bryant and not an ordinary person who lived a decent life and died in an earthquake?

All the success, reputation, status, power, money that we work for will disappear one day and nobody will remember us, except you are a great artist like Monet, Mozart or Da Vinci.  Even then, I don’t really know what it makes to Mozart to be still well known in 2020.

Honestly, I do not believe that those great artists we remember today did their work to be remembered even centuries after.  Then, what was their motivation?  Money, power, status…? I think it is the PURPOSE.

And finally, it makes me to ask the following question: How should we live our lives?  As most of us will not be remembered as great people of the time, we will be forgotten even if we become famous like Kobe Bryant.  So, being Kobe Bryant does mean anything or not if we do not have a purpose?