Today, a year ago, Kobi Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash.
Kobe Bryant.
A legend that really was
Photography:
IPI
One of the saddest things about Kobe Bryant's tragic death just a year ago in a helicopter crash, in which his 12-year-old daughter Giana was also killed and seven other people, was linked to the timing - as a special ceremony was scheduled for September last year.
In the same cycle they were to take the stage one after the other in Springfield, Massachusetts, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and Bryant.
Each is accompanied by a person they have chosen who will "introduce" them to the shrine - an honor that the elect retain for a person who has particularly influenced their careers and lives.
Kobe, most likely, would have chosen Phil Jackson or Michael Jordan.
What a moment it was supposed to be.
Such a trio, of Kobe-Duncan-Garnett - all elected to the Hall of Fame in the first year in which they could be voted for (which is an honor in itself reserved for the greatest), two of them top-10 historic players, another probably in the Top 25 - was to make The glittering and ornate Hall of Fame cycle in the history of basketball.
Also, this moment of honoring, of the Hall of Fame speech, is without a doubt one of the most important and exciting for athletes.
For them, it is a day that symbolizes a historic commemoration of their work, alongside the greatest ever.
A celebration of all the hard work they have done throughout their lives.
One degree that can not be taken from them, that they will never lose.
It is also a day that closes the door on the career.
From this we no longer return to the parquet.
Not even Jordan.
And because of that, it's also a day of a lot of nostalgia, feelings, regrets, tears, pride, and maybe disillusionment.
A day that catches a lot of players looking back, on the screen that projects their best moves, but also in the sense of the timeline - a whole life that they dedicated to the game.
Then look ahead, at the chosen audience that has come to honor them once more but also again in the dimension of time, with the question "Where now?"
- and do not really know how to give an indicative answer.
In quite a few cases this uncertainty is accompanied by hard feelings, fear, sometimes even pity and concern on the part of the audience towards the future of the older person facing them, which culminates surely behind him.
That was not supposed to be Kobe Bryant's case.
From the day he retired from basketball, Kobe managed to write and produce an Oscar-winning short film, created and presented the "Detail" program on ESPN, which already had a football spin-off with Peyton Manning, wrote and produced a youth book series, founded a private investment fund, founded a philanthropy business, founded an academy To basketball and coached girls there, and at the time of his death was working on a project with the acclaimed writer Paulo Coelho.
Only the things written here in the last paragraph could fill an entire resume of a person who has devoted all his energy and abilities to the areas of creative and business doing.
Kobe managed to do all this in the few years between his retirement from basketball and his death.
The realization that he had so much more to contribute could have made his Hall of Fame speech an uplifting moment.
For another inspiring event given to us by him.
A festive day that could serve as an example to countless other professional athletes, who can do much more than just dribble.
That no one has the right to restrict them and reduce their scope of action.
But even all this does not indicate the most important thing that did not happen in that Hall of Fame ceremony that the Corona rejected, and that Kobe did not attend.
Because it could also have been an opportunity for all of us to talk about Kobe's work to promote women's sports.
About the father who is devoted to the four daughters he was.
And how does all this stand up to the rape case in which he was charged in 2003?
It could have been a day dedicated to discussion of repentance, acceptance of responsibility, atonement and development.
In the correction of iniquities.
Forgiveness without forgetting, and in drawing lessons and the best also very bad things that have happened and been done.
In our ability as a company to look at the whole, and Kobe's to convey a more important message than any championship: "no" is "no".
No one has a right to another's body.
Sexual violence is a social problem that exists even in the most liberal circles, and must be published and uprooted.
And to dedicate your life to correction is what you should expect from any sinner.
But the fact that this day has not happened, and will not happen, only means that it is incumbent upon us to adhere and convey these messages in our environment.
If we miss this lesson, it will be the most tragic thing in Kobe's death