This is a great thread. I think Kobe's impact on so many is even stronger in spirit than it was when he was among us in the physical. I know my reverence for him only deepened after his passing, and it was due mostly to the man he was off the court. That mentality to constantly seek self improvement and to limit seconds wasted. The value of time which was the crux of his mentality is made even more bitter when you consider how his passing reminded us that it's the one commodity we have no control of.
I work in medicine. About 7 months ago, a job opening outside of Anaheim was available and an associate from residency informed me. I'm genuinely blessed to be where I am in life currently, but I'm ultimately not content in the south, so I salivated. It was the perfect opportunity and to my old acquaintances credit, they'd put in a great word for me. Long story short, the job basically mandated under the guise of "preference" that one be bilingual due to the community being so largely Hispanic. I'm not a fluent spanish speaker, so the canidates who were had the leg up. To be fair, I'm also sure their resumes were simply more rounded due to their experience (I know the woman who got the job has 12 years on me.) That part may have been out of my control, but as disgruntled as I was about their "preference" for Spanish speaking canidates, I get it, and learning spanish isnt difficult in comparison to other languages. I know baseline Spanish, but I'm far from fluent.
Kobe was the same guy who crammed Slovenian so he could trash talk Luka for 45 seconds. He constantly sought self improvement, often without being nudged into doing so. I've been hard at it for a little over two months and have completely immersed myself and my household in it, with the aim to be conversationally fluent in the next year and a half. From my films, to my books, to my videogames, to the websites I visit; it's all spanish now. My two girls will benefit too (easy A's in Spanish 14 years from now) I dont plan on stopping there, though. My wife is Vietnamese and I'm also going to learn her native tongue in depth, an idea I'd only toyed with over the years. For recreation, I'm also putting french and portugese on the list for down the road, as I only want to learn those because I genuinely like them.
I can live without getting a dream job because another canidate was simply more seasoned, but not because they took the time to add something to their skillset that is just as easily obtainable for me as it was to them. It helps rounds out my resume and as such, it increases opportunity. I see a potential weakness, so it's on me to plug it. Bean launched those three consecutive air balls vs Utah at 18 and realized he had to adjust & adapt to the rigors of the game he was playing. I think in life in general, we have to do the same. You either complain and moan, or you sack up and do what it takes to improve your situation. I don't know what the future holds, but I do know that any disappointments down the line won't be because I didn't devote the effort to prevent them.
:
