The Pursuit of Greatness
Reflections
Kobe Bryant
1978-2020
As I write the week after reports confirmed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, and his daughter Gianna Bryant, passed away in a fatal helicopter crash on Sunday, I can’t help shake this feeling of melancholy permeating in me. After every major tragedy, it seems self-evident to lament on behalf of those whose lives will be most affected. In this particularly turbulent time, I can feel the sorrow, the misery, the resounding voices of millions throughout the world who mourn the death of Kobe Bryant. Everyone lost something that day. A mother lost a husband and a daughter. A brother and sister lost parents who will never see them graduate college, or marry. A husband lost a wife; his children lost a mother. And a world lost an icon.
I was introduced to basketball by Kobe ten years ago while I was vacationing in China. At the time, my tour guide was an avid Celtics fan and the 2010 finals were undergoing. I found him insufferable; the man had a pompous and abrasive attitude about how his Celtics were easily going to beat Kobe and his Lakers. Knowing Celtics fans today, I can say my initial premonitions were 100% correct. To spite him, my cunning fourteen-year-old self decided to become a Kobe fan and cheer for the Lakers. I can still sense the nostalgic feeling, sitting on the bedside reeling from the changes in food and water in a foreign country. Following closely Games 4 through 7 of the NBA finals, I cheered for one man, whom I was rather apathetic and indifferent about, and watched as he enforced his will onto the game. My wish came true. The Celtics lost and my tour guide was extremely upset as I continually goaded him about why Kobe Bryant was the ‘best player in the world’. At the time, I couldn’t even name 5 NBA players, but it gave me great pleasure bringing him extreme agitation. At the same time, another wish came true, one that I was not personally aware of nor cared for at the time. It wasn’t until after the summer trip that I had realized that I had fell in love with the game of basketball. Through high school courts to couches and bar stools, from that moment, basketball has continued to become an intrinsic part of my life. Thank you Kobe.
Greatness
There is a commonality among all great men. That is the relentless pursuit of an ideal worth sacrificing. For Kobe, his endeavor to become the greatest of all time mirrors the pursuit of all great men in their respective destinies throughout history. His phrase “Mamba Mentality” wasn’t just a popularly used aphorism to describe a lack of efficient field goal makes, but it was a creed that Kobe adopted to live by in all facets of life. To truly embody the “Mamba Mentality”, requires a conviction and a resolve that one knowingly and inevitably may even face death as a consequence of pursuing one’s dream. To forego hedonistic desire, to embrace suffering, antagonism, struggle, how many are actually capable in adopting this kind of mindset? Tracy McGrady in a recent interview said that when Kobe was younger he, “wished to be immortalized and die young”. Tracy said that kind of thinking was crazy. But is it?
The path of a great individual is paved with sacrifice. The ultimatum that many face is the contention with their own humanity in the means to produce extraordinarily and outstanding achievements. Think of all the great artists and painters who have lost themselves in the tangible pursuit of greatness. How many musicians, or chefs, writers, and military leaders have tread on cobblestones of loneliness and suffering, willing to forsake everything for prominence and glory. These men teach us something profoundly important about the human spirit. Regardless of the impediments or obstacles one faces, man can rise above any challenge with thorough and consistent action and a will aimed towards a purpose. For the brash young Kobe, perhaps the irony in the declaration for basketball immortality had culminated in his untimely demise nearly two decades later. Perhaps it is the achievement of greatness that preconditions such a fate: Michael Jackson, Prince, Freddie Mercury, Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley, Van Gogh, Mozart, George Orwell, and the list goes on. And surely some die young due to youthful avarice and poor choices accumulating to poor consequence, but many are ill fated to chance. Kobe was of the latter which makes his passing that much more somber. Nearly five years after retirement, Kobe’s aspirations extended past basketball immortality, seeking to impact culture, entertainment, media, writing, and most notably storytelling. And perhaps even more jarring than that, is the realization that Kobe’s fascination towards storytelling and intellectual pursuits led him towards studying the story of Achilles: Greek Hero in one of the most famous literary works in history, The Iliad.
Loving Fate
When asked about the downfall of Kobe Bryant, there is a moment that every basketball fan plays repetitiously in their mind. A harrowing scene that I can personally remember watching, as Kobe drove past Harrison Barnes when the Lakers played the Warriors in 2013. As a result, Kobe suffered an Achilles tear, his post game interview eerily indicative of the decline that was fatalistically to come. According to Ramona Shelburne, a close confident of the superstar, from that injury, Kobe became obsessed with the mythology and story of the Greek Hero Achilles.
Achilles was born as the son of Thetis and Peleus. As an infant, he was dipped into the River Styx which granted him immortality. However, he was left vulnerable on the part of the body that his mother hung onto, the ‘Achilles Heel’. His mother Thetis foretells that Achilles possessed two fates: to either gain glory and die young, or live a long but uneventful life in obscurity. Achilles chooses the former and decides to take part in the Trojan War where his legend and death remain. The bitter symbolism of Achilles, enveloped with the protection of the divine power of immortality, knowingly accepting the fate of death to chase greatness and glory resembles Kobe’s own acceptance and his coming to terms with the latter aspect of his career. Reconciling with the inevitable end of his career, Kobe embraced his final moments gloriously, and continued to strive towards greatness in other avenues of post=playing life. In ancient Greece, there is a word Kleos, often translated to fame or glory. The philosopher Diotima remarks during a discussion with Socrates that “men are always searching for ways to reach immortality, by means of physical and intellectual procreation. And that the love for glory is very strong, so much so that to obtain it, men are ready to engage in the greatest effort, to take risks and make sacrifices, even at the cost of their lives”.
In a similar vein, the dichotomy of Achilles who attained genuine immortality at infancy and his pursuit of kleos eventually leading to his death provides an insightful commentary on what greatness entails. In Kobe, the Greek tradition of kleos is very much represented in his conduct and character. Most notably, it manifests in his maxim of the “Mamba Mentality”. Very true to himself, Kobe’s warrior-like approach towards the game of basketball had persisted in his aspirations after his career concluded. His pursuit of kleos saw him winning the prestigious Oscar Award only 2 years later for his film “Dear Basketball”. Kobe constantly sought to the development and cultivation of not only himself, but also those around him. He wanted his daughter, Gigi, to carry own his legacy in basketball and become the greatest female player of all time. The man who historically did not have the most amicable relationships regarding women, proceeded to invest heavily in female representation in sports, most notably in substantial support of the WNBA. He continued to embolden women to challenge themselves as leaders, visionaries, and innovators. Kobe requested advice from giants in their own respective fields: JK Rowling and George RR Martin for storytelling, Michael Jackson for music, Tim Cook and Oprah Winfrey for business, and many more. Like Diotima remarked, it was apparent that Kobe was constantly searching for ways to leave his own impact on the world.
What does it mean to love fate? The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, in one of his momentous works, The Gay Science, presents a thought experiment for readers. He writes, “What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times times more…Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demo who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would answered him, ‘You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine’ ”.
For Nietzsche, to truly love life to it’s fullest requires one to love every possible moment of human experience. To live every presentable instance with the embrace and intent that one will have to experience it infinitely over. In order to affirm one’s life, one needs to affirm the totality of it all: the love, the pleasure, the boredom, the pain, the suffering, the desperation. One can never be truly human without these experiences. For Nietzsche, the precondition for the attainment of greatness is ‘Amor Fati’ - the love of one’s fate. Achilles, as a child, knowingly chooses and embraces his journey through the pit the flames. However, there is no apprehension or trepidation for his destiny. On the contrary, he embraces it and loves every moment. For Kobe, his “Mamba Mentality” is also reconcilable with loving one’s fate. If Thetis had offered a similar fate to him: To attain basketball immortality while inspiring and emboldening millions across the world, or to live a rather modest but long life, Kobe would without a doubt choose the former.
Understandably, the loss of Kobe and his daughter leaves an indelible mark on our history. Thousands, filled with remorse and anguish have showed up to Staples Center to provide their condolences. Millions more around the world dedicate memorials, paintings, and posts of remembrance for the loss. For over two decades, Kobe captivated our imagination, our admiration, and even at times, our denigration. By no means was he a completely virtuous character, nor should his life be romanticized posthumously as such. In fact, many of his actions and controversies can be evaluated as abhorrent and egregious. But this loss gives a stark realization of the abrupt finality of death and the possibility each of our lives possess to meet unforeseen ends. Many reiterate that ‘life is short’, but it isn’t the shortness of life that we should be wary of. Rather, it is the potential that life can be short for those unfortunate enough to encounter death. Thus instead, the antidote is to live each of our lives as affirmatively as possible. To truly embrace each moment we have on this Earth. The late great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in his book Meditations remarks, “Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly”. Life is transitory. Instead of fear, embrace the impermanence and live every moment as auspiciously as possible. To our luminaries such as Kobe, the only true value his death brings, is the ability for us to take what’s left of our lives and as Marcus says, ‘live it properly’. To honor his legacy, it is only befitting that we draw from his indomitable spirit, his willingness to overcome insuperable obstacles and his reverential quality to continually sustain excellence throughout life. It is now incumbent on us. Instead of remaining as a spectator court side, become the director, the star, the torchbearer of your own life. Only the effort of living as a heroic individual can we begin to make meaning and draw inspiration from the legacy that Kobe has left.
The philosopher Aristotle said that “Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit, honed only through rigorous and persistent application”. For Kobe, excellence became a way of life, a mode of living each and every moment with sheer effort, determination, and a divine like quality of will that seemed to move mountains and bend rivers towards its goal. A man that once galvanized a nation to it’s feet in applause, has solemnly brought it down to its knees. That too, is an exemplary characteristic of the man Kobe Bryant.
So one last time, thank you for everything Kobe. Grazie di tutto. Gracias por todo.
