The Beauty in a Legacy

This past Sunday the world lost another great, another legend and quite frankly it still feels so surreal. As I write this I’m still in disbelief and saddened by the news of the passing of Kobe Bryant. To the world, he was the star of the Los Angeles Lakers for his 20 year career in the NBA. He was a five time NBA champion, four time NBA All-Star Game MVP and one of the all-time leading scorers in the league, number 4 to be exact, just to mention a few of his accomplishments and achievements. But as of recent through my reading of Relentless, a book written by his trainer and friend, Tim Grover, I realized there was much more to Kobe than basketball. I can admit he was one of the best and he was committed to staying one of the best and becoming even greater.

Since the news broke and throughout this week while watching news stories and reading articles of this heartbreaking tragedy, my thoughts kept going back to the legacy Kobe left behind, and not just in the sport of basketball, but his overall life’s legacy.

When a person passes away, what they leave behind is the quality of their life, a summation of their choices and actions throughout their life, whether good or bad. When asked, some people will say that a legacy consists of a person’s character, their good or bad deeds. Others may say that a legacy is not what a person acquires but what they create, what they produce. I like to think, and I know that many people may agree with me, that a legacy is encouraging and inspiring others through your actions and choices; working towards and realizing your owns goals and accomplishments; striving to consistently operate in excellence and greatness.

I believe a part of our purpose is to inspire others through our own actions. If we take a look through time and study the most prominent and influential legacies, we’ll see that they all had one thing in common — they inspired action through their own actions. They didn’t just think or talk about doing things, nor did they tell others to do things, they all went and got things done on their own. They took responsibility for their success and owned their greatness.

And now we can add Kobe to that list of influential legacies. On and off the court, he owned his greatness, he was committed to his success. Even in the face of adversity, he rose above all the noise and the critics and went on to win—and win again. His “Mamba Mentality” will live on through each and every person he encountered, every person that has watched him play, whether they were his biggest fan or not a fan at all. His commitment to greatness, to success and reaching your highest potential and going even higher is inspiring to all, most especially to me.

“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” -Kobe Bryant

In recent months, I would see pictures of him and his daughter Gigi who tragically, also lost her life in the helicopter crash, at various NBA and WNBA games, and I would immediately smile. Not just because of the evident bond between a father and a daughter, but the ball player in me would smile knowing how much it meant to her to share in the same passion as her father. His commitment to his wife and his daughters will also always be apart of his legacy. He was proud and happy to be a #GirlsDad, and it showed in every picture. It’s sad to know that him and one of his daughters lost their lives while on their way to hone her skills in their shared passion, basketball.

Kobe’s death and the death of the other passengers in the crash was a huge wake-up call to myself and I’m sure to you as well. Life is so fragile and it isn’t promised to anyone. But while we are still alive are we actually living or just existing? Are we operating at our absolutely best? Are we committed to our success and greatness? Are we leaving a positive impact on the lives we encounter? These are questions we should ask ourselves daily along with: What will my legacy be? What am I doing to leave behind a great legacy? Are my actions and words in alignment with how I wish to be remembered? And if not, what can I do to make sure they are?

Let’s not wait for another tragedy to happen before we start operating at our best.

Forever in Awe,

C. Yejide