Kobe Bryant has always been referred to as Xiao-fei-xia (小飛俠) in Taiwanese media. Xiao-fei-xia is a translation for Peter Pan. I have always wondered why Kobe is called that, especially his English nickname is the Black Mamba.
I’ve just figured out why…
It’s from a famous Taigi rock song, the song that started a new generation of Taigi singers, Lîm Kiông’s (林強) Hiòng-tsiân kiânn (向前行).
Kobe was one of the most influential athletes of my time. Someone who was very much part a big part of pop culture. People love Kobe. Whatever his faults are as a human being, he was the epitome of pursuing excellence at his craft. A fierce competitor that always gave 110% and someone who held others accountable for not giving it their all.
All of which are admirable traits people admire and love about him. The pursuit of greatness is something that takes people back.
He was also an ambassador to the game of basketball. Kids everywhere like myself came into the game because of Kobe.
We can mourn everybody, but sometimes a high profile tragedy like this is symbolic, and effective in reminding people about the brevity of life, and to appreciate it. I think that’s the most significant value something like this can hold.
As a basketball fan, you can remember and recognize his impact on the league, as a person, you can feel for everyone affected, and then there is the perspective a major event like this can deliver, whether or not you think that’s the way it should be.
If anyone took a fine tooth comb to any of our lives here I’m sure they could find something to judge or be enraged about.
Nobody is morally pure and none of us knew him, from the looks of it he was a good guy and made changes, volunteered with homeless communities, worked with kids was a good dad.
Indeed, and nobody is diminishing the wrongdoing in that case.
That suit was settled out of court, he apologized for it and at least from news stories reformed himself into a better person and learned from it. Whether or not he was genuinely contrite not sure and I don’t think anyone is downplaying his role, just acknowledging that grieving the loss of someone imperfect is ok.
I also have a hard time thinking his wife would have stayed with him through it if he hadn’t gotten his act together as a person.
The bodies weren’t even cold before folks started pissing on their graves. Come on, son.
I had a 2 month period last year where I buried 4 loved ones. I didn’t like one in particular because of some really dirty ish they did to me but I kept my mouth shut until they were in the grave.
My point is – just because the person who died may or may not have been decent according to my moral/ethical standards or someone’s else’s, doesn’t mean I have to lower mine.
Whatever his transgressions, he seems to have grown as a person and done way more good than bad in his life IMO. The work in the community, he was also a champion of women’s athletics, his outreach was also global. I believe a person can be redeemed. He was human just like anyone else.
The world is a worse case without him.
And we don’t know the full detail of his legal issues. The truth is between Kobe and the woman. It was settled privately and he did issue an apology to her.
What hurts is not being able to see what he was going to do next. Most athletes are done when they retire. Kobe was just about to start his new life that I have no doubt would have been a prolific as his basketball career. The man had a drive to succeed like non other. It was inspiring to see.
Here’s the case. I couldn’t read it all because the incident described is difficult to read.
Either way, I agree that he seemed to have learned a deep lesson and moved forward. In cases like this I’ve learned it’s better to let go, ask God to bless the offending party and forgive. No good comes from being bitter or beating a dead horse.
