Public Deaths

Photo courtesy Slam News

Gianna and Kobe Bryant. Photo by Atiba Jefferson.

"O untimely death!" cries Oswald, slain by Edgar in Act 4 of Shakespeare's King Lear. The disembodied cry recurs at the end of "I Am the Walrus," the masterpiece by John Lennon, himself the victim of just such an end forty years ago.

The United States as a nation was shocked yesterday at the news of the death of nine individuals in a helicopter crash in California that included basketball legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, known as Gigi. They were reportedly traveling with another player and parent to an away basketball game for the girls.

Every NBA-level basketball player is a superlative athlete. The ones who stand out in that world transcend their sport; theirs is a special glory, yet one in which we feel we can all take part. Say "Kobe" to virtually any American, even those who don't follow basketball and aren't fans, and they'll know who you mean. Athletes are particularly easy for all of us to celebrate. They belong to us, in a way. They live our daydreams.

Kobe was retired as a basketball player but in his prime as a man, a mere 41 years old. His loss is bad enough, but seeing the photographs of a happy Kobe as a proud father with his adored daughter by his side is truly heartbreaking. One can only pray that neither of them fully realized what was about to happen to the other when the end came.

Similar tragedies happen every day across this country and the world, but we hear about them, and feel them, when they happen to larger-than-life, high-profile people. Those deaths stand for all the others that happen in silence and that pass by without public notice. Our sympathies and condolences go out to the Bryant family, and the families and loved ones of the other seven people aboard that ill-fated helicopter yesterday, and indeed for all those loved ones who are lost with shocking suddenness before their time.

For those reading this, may your death be timely, and may the deaths of those you love be likewise.

Mike

Coverage of Kobe's death is being offered to visitors for free today at the Los Angeles Times.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

William Lewis: "Good piece, sir. Your last line reminded of an old zen story. A wealthy samurai goes to a well known monk and calligrapher. At the end of his visit, he asks for a scroll to hang in his house. The monk thinks for a moment and the writes in his most exquisite hand 'Grandfather dies. Father dies. Son dies.' The samauri is deeply offended and reaches for his wakizashi (his shorter sword, worn indoors). The monk calmly says, 'If your lives are like this, you will be greatly blessed. For everyone will have lived out their time and passed away in the proper order. This is something all families should hope for.'"

Comments

[James]

His poor wife.....
Those left behind to mourn suffer immense pain and despair, especially when a child is lost.

[DENNIS M]

And no mention of the other 3 (or 7) people who died. By any media, anywhere! Go figure. Just as alive yesterday, just as dead today, but nameless.

[There is an article about the other victims here:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-27/kobe-bryant-helicopter-crash-victims

--Mike]

[Helcio J. Tagliolatto]

"For those reading this, may your death be timely, and may the deaths of those you love be likewise."

I hope so, thank you.
Untimely deaths always strained me.

[John]

I think a tragedy behind this tragedy is that despite the weather and warnings, making it to a basketball game was considered important enough to risk lives.

[Fred Haynes]

Good post, and great comment by William Lewis!
Fred

[Dan Khong]

We live to die, and some die to live.

[Gordon Lewis]

>>no mention of the other 3 (or 7) people who died.

Initial news reports did not mention the other people who perished in the helicopter because the authorities first had to identify the victims and notify their next of kin. Had it been one of your friends or family members in that helicopter, I'm sure you have appreciated the same compassion.

[Jim Arthur]

Kobe’s 2017 film, "Dear Basketball," won the award for best animated short at the 2018 Academy Awards and is based on a letter he wrote, announcing his retirement from basketball. It’s well worth 4 minutes of your day.

[A. Dias]

Life is precious and short! RIP!

[Ray Maines]

A timely death. How much more could any of us ask for?

Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich is a book worth reading.

[Patrick Perez]

Speaking of public deaths, I was not really affected by Kobe's death. Not a patch on him at all. Just not personally impactful. But last week the singer songwriter David Olney died while performing, and reading the account of it brought me to tears. He was performing as part of a songwriter's festival and in the middle of one of his songs he stopped, said quietly "I'm sorry.", rested his head and was dead. People there thought he was just 'taking a moment'. He didn't fall over and he didn't drop his guitar. He was just gone in an instant.

Patrick

[Moose]

"Similar tragedies happen every day across this country and the world, but we hear about them, and feel them, when they happen to larger-than-life, high-profile people. Those deaths stand for all the others that happen in silence and that pass by without public notice."

I wonder how universally true that is. I'm not generally much moved by the deaths of high profile people, unless I felt some sort of connection to them before, and I'd like not to believe I'm a freak.

The same day you posted this, Rosa came to clean our house. She told me how she had almost been in Mexico, but hadn't noticed that her passport had expired. She was to go to the funeral of a nephew.

On the same day, I heard about Mr. Bryant, which didn't move me, and Rosa's nephew, which did. Rosa has been working for me for about 35 years. She's lived through my late wife's illness and death and I through her son's illness and death.

We aren't really friends, but we are close. Her loss was mine, too.

Oddly enough, his death was private here, but very public in Mexico. He was a well known actor, who died in an accident while shooting a movie scene, along with another actor, who grabbed the nephew, trying to save himself, inadvertently pulling him into a joint death.

It was screaming headline, full front page news, there. With strident calls for greater care of the safety of actors in the Mexican Movie and TV business.

What's public, what's private. Which should move us more? I don't know for sure; just askin'.

[George]

This is very sad for everyone involved. However, the more I thought about this, the more I realized that the whole reason they are dead is because Kobe couldn't be bothered to deal with commuting on LA freeways (for years) and instead chose a method of transport that is egregiously bad for our planet.

Helicopters are dangerous. It's very sad that this happened and no - in no way am I suggesting that he had this coming to him, but it's not like he died by running into a burning children's hospital to save kids. He died as a result of being able to commute by pollution-spewing helicopter as he literally looked down on the rest of us who can't afford that luxury.

[Arthur Morris]

After having read the testimony of his alleged rape victim from 2003, along with an outline of the forensic case against him as well as Kobe's own testimony (which is damning), it's difficult to feel any sympathy at his passing whatsoever. His daughter and the other victims of the crash, yes. But Kobe, no.

[Scott]

A previous comment mentioned the book Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich. There is a quote from that book that I find to be excellent:

“You can think of death bitterly or with resignation, as a tragic interruption of your life, and take every possible measure to postpone it. Or, more realistically, you can think of life as an interruption of an eternity of personal nonexistence, and seize it as a brief opportunity to observe and interact with the living, ever-surprising world around us.”

[Carlos Quijano Altamirano]

You should have mentioned some Yoko Ono album...