6 Reasons Why Kobe Bryant is Important to All of Us and Not Just Basketball Fans

I was seventeen years old when Kobe Bryant went directly to the NBA from high school. I remember this because I was 17. So following him through his career had a certain relation to his career on a personal level. I grew up playing basketball and watching the NBA. I love basketball, it’s part of who I am.

The death of Kobe shocked me. I had grown to respect him not only as one of the greatest basketball players of all time but what he had to say about being a human being. Kobe wasn’t just a good basketball player. The amount of hard work and dedication that it took for him to play at the level that he did was almost unprecedented. When it came to basketball, there was Kobe and then there eas everybody else.

I know there are people out there that might wonder what the big deal is and why we celebrate an athlete like Kobe after his untimely death. Here’s what Kobe can teach us all about being a good person.

1. He found his passion and chased it until he was the worlds best — Too many of us live for other people. We don’t find ourselves, we don’t find what we love. We don’t find what we’re supposed to do. Too many of us never figure out why we are here. Kobe was a basketball player. To the core. While other players were going to strip clubs and burning through their money, he was in the gym, learning from the legends. Kobe taught us that you have one life and it might leave you at any moment so find what you are supposed to do and do it as best as you can.
2. He made other people better — Players like Kobe inspire other players to be better. Most of these guys in the NBA rose to the top of their local leagues almost effortlessly. Every guy in the NBA is good. Really good. The best of the best. And Kobe was better than all of them. Every young hotshot that stopped working at improving was humbled by how good Kobe was and it inspired many of them to keep working and keep improving. Kobe saw how great Shaq was and pushed him to be even better than he was because even though Shaq was the greatest basketball center ever, Kobe knew he could be better. Ron Artest, aka Meta Worldpeace was a notoriously crazy player known for his unpredictable antics and making stupid decisions. When he played with the Lakers, Jimmy Kimmel asked him why he seemed so calm and reigned in. His answer? “I don’t want to disappoint Kobe.”
3. He loved being a dad — Kobe had only daughters and he loved them dearly. He was an awesome dad. When other athletes are lost in the spotlight and wealth, he took his daughters to games and spent time being a dad. He was a great example of fatherhood for all of us. By being an amazing dad, he was an amazing example of how to be a man.
4. He united many of us — Kobe was an icon of excellence and despite many of our differences, people are united in their love for Kobe as a person and as a player. People all over the world are mourning his loss in a time of a lot of differences and divisions. People from every country and every walk of life share a love for Kobe and it has brought many of us together during some troubled times.
5. He always faced his fears — Kobe was the only guy that wasn’t afraid to take on Michael Jordan and challenge him. Kobe was the only guy that had the balls to tell Shaq that he needed to lose a little weight. Kobe wasn’t afraid to stare down LeBron and keep him from scoring when LeBron dominated everybody else. Kobe taught us about courage. He taught us to stare down the ogres and not to back down. He taught us that sometimes it’s not about the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.
6. He has allowed tough grown men to cry in public without shame — Shaquille O’neal cried on live TV while talking about Kobe. He wasn’t the only one either. These big tough athletes cried on national TV. Men that we look up to and respect for their dominance in their worlds. Even though they are rich and famous, they show empathy, compassion and mourning for someone that they all considered to be a friend. These icons are showing men and boys all over the world that it’s okay to love another man like a brother and it’s okay to cry in public when that brother has fallen.

Rest in peace Kobe, you will be missed brother.