The Kobe Effect: Legends Do Die

Written By: Matthew Contreras

They say legends never die. Unfortunately, this one did. Kobe Bryant died and left us all too mourn.

I woke up for work and the streets of Downtown Los Angeles felt emptier. Everyone I spoke to that day brought up his name at least once. Television stations, Instagram stories and Twitter blew up with iconic pictures of the Black Mamba. 

How can it be that an entire city, perhaps an entire nation, can mourn the life of one man and his daughter? The sky was still blue and the streets continued to function, but something was different that day. Eventually, I left work and took the typical drive home. That drive was filled with memorials on the side of the streets and murals of Bryant that had gone unnoticed for years finally became consumed with flowers, candles and crying fans. 

Celebrities die relatively often. People my age are stepping into an era where we are seeing the people we look up to die. This day was more than just my social media feed drowning in pictures of Bryant. To me, it was a wake-up call that told me my life has an expiration date. 

Bryant was on his way to a youth basketball event and I’m sure he woke up that morning expecting to have an average day. 

This put things into perspective for me in ways that no other celebrity has made me feel. To be quite frank I do not consider myself a fan of basketball, but I always admired Bryant for his sincere kindness. Simply seeing his face and hearing all he has done for our community made him such an important figure to me. I care because he made an even larger impact on my friends and family. 

I don’t know if it was karma, God or a spell cast onto him, but my point is to continue living life like it’s your last because you never know what random thing will happen in your life.

They say legends never die, but Los Angeles may disagree with you.