Dear Kobe,
We have never met, but I love you. It is only appropriate that I start with that truth. I never thought of my admiration for you as love until the news of your passing reached me yesterday on January 26, 2020. Why would I shed tears for someone I never met before? Impact. Life is not measured in years; it is measured in the magnitude of our impact on others. While many of us may feel you were prematurely taken from us, the truth is, you remain with us. Your legacy remains through the lives you have touched.
I grew up rooting for your fellow competitor Iverson, so that meant, at times I was rooting against you. As my love for the game grew, so did my respect for you. Eventually I would start rooting for you too. I admired your approach to the game. You never cheated the game. You put in the work and you got the results. Your accolades speak volumes. As I grew older, I began to appreciate your work ethic even more and started to try and imitate it in my own life. How I approached my studies. How I approached my work, like you, I didn’t want to cheat the game. More importantly I did not want to rob myself of the potential that God gave me. As you demanded more of yourself, I demanded more of myself.
Your life is your greatest work – its your masterpiece. Who you are spoke and still speaks volumes. It is not what a man professes but how he lives that shows what he truly believes. You lived and breathed the Mamba Mentality. Your life became a project of what you would become if you put in the work. You became the Black Mamba, which is all about the pursuit of excellence. The Mamba Mentality stands for attention to detail, focus, work-ethic, and becoming the best version of yourself. I also love how you added depth to what it means to be the Black Mamba – it started off being the pursuit of excellence but later was combined with loving your family well and pouring into the next generation.
It is hard to say goodbye but to move forward I will honor your legacy by living the Mamba Mentality. I will commit myself to the pursuit of excellence, loving my family well, and pouring into the next generation – to me that is the Mamba Mentality.
Jeff#MambaMentality
godinspiredlove 