Three months after 9/11, Kobe Bryant wrote a column for Newsweek reflecting on what he had learned from the tragedy.
He stated: “I’ve learned also that you can’t take things for granted. You know how we always say ‘See you later’? One thing I’ve realized from September 11 is that you can’t ever say that for sure. Things change in the blink of an eye. People go to work and don’t come back. One minute they’re living and the next minute they’re not. And, it doesn’t matter who you are, there is nothing you can do about it.”
He concluded: “We never know when our time here will be over, so we all need to make the most of every minute we have.”
The other victims of the helicopter crash
Just as Kobe Bryant sought meaning in the aftermath of 9/11, I’ve been searching for meaning in his shocking death. The unpredictability of life he highlighted in his Newsweek article is one obvious fact. Another is his observation that, with regard to mortality, “it doesn’t matter who you are.”
A third factor illustrated by his death is the way our culture focuses on celebrity. For example, seven other people died in the helicopter crash along with Bryant and his daughter Gianna, but their stories have not been the focus of media attention.
One of them was John Altobelli, a baseball coach who helped hundreds of players earn scholarships to Division I programs over the years. He and his wife Keri were on board the helicopter with their daughter Alyssa, who played on the same basketball team as Gianna Bryant.
Another victim was Christina Mauser, the top assistant on the girls’ basketball team. Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton, a teammate of Gianna Bryant’s, also died in the crash, as did the helicopter pilot, Ara Zobayan.
More Americans watched a soap opera than watched the impeachment trial
Those we don’t know are just as important to their family and friends as those we do.
House…
… Read More
—
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.