The Publisher’s Perspective - 2/6/20

The following is my piece in the February 6, 2020 edition of the Philadelphia Jewish Link:

With his strong ties to Philadelphia and his status as a global basketball icon, Kobe Bryant’s tragic death in a helicopter crash was shocking for many of us. While I never met him, I felt like I knew him. For many of us, our first introduction to Kobe was when he made the bold decision in 1996 to go straight from high school to the NBA, à la Kevin Garnett, who in 1995 became the first player to be drafted right from school to the NBA in two decades.

Kobe’s exploits as a player were legendary and his status as one of the best to ever play the game is forever etched into our minds. There was the epic 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, in which Kobe seemingly scored at will and appeared to be virtually unstoppable. There was the time he scored 62 points against the Dallas Mavericks in 2005, in a game in which he played only three quarters. There was the game in 2009 in which Kobe walked into Madison Square Garden and wowed the New York crowd by putting up 61 points. There was the head-to-head matchup with Michael Jordan, then of the Washington Wizards, in 2003, when Kobe scored 55. And, of course, there was that magical night in April 2016 when Kobe played the final NBA game of his celebrated 20-year career and put on an unforgettable show in front of the Lakers’ home crowd en route to a 60-point performance against the Utah Jazz.

That being said, Kobe Bryant was not perfect, and in 2003 he found himself as the defendant in a sexual assault case that was ultimately dropped, and he was also a defendant in a related civil case, which was settled out of court. However, Kobe managed to rebound from his legal troubles, and his reputation as a loving father and spouse helped him put that disturbing incident in the rear-view mirror, although it was never truly forgotten.

The tragedy that claimed nine lives, including Kobe Bryant and his young daughter Gianna, was absolutely heart-wrenching, and we will never know why all of these people had their lives tragically cut short. As a general rule, when something life-altering happens, it is an opportune time to reflect and try to learn a lesson from what transpired.

As I think about Kobe Bryant, one thing that everyone noted about him was his extraordinary desire to keep improving and the fact that he constantly gave it his all. “I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success,” Kobe once said. “Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.”

Most of us will not become NBA players, and it would be foolish for us to emulate Kobe Bryant simply because of his basketball prowess. Instead, we should look to the meticulous approach that Kobe employed in his quest to improve himself, whether it was as a basketball player, a husband, a father, a businessman, or as a human being. Settling for mediocrity in life is by no means the ultimate goal; rather, striving for excellence and seeking constant growth should be the engine that propels us forward.

The other and perhaps more obvious lesson that we should learn in light of this tragedy is that we must never take life for granted and that we should always cherish and make the most of our time on this Earth. Time is one of our most precious commodities, and squandering time is deleterious to our personal and spiritual well-being. We should live each day and love each day, because we have no idea what tomorrow may have in store.