As You Seek, Don’t Forget To See

How a late basketball great, K-pop star, and kid’s movie offer insights into the meaning of life

Alexander Yu
ILLUMINATION
Published in
6 min readApr 22, 2021

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Photo by Mantas Hesthaven on Unsplash

I was just passing time on YouTube when the bombshell news dropped. “Kobe Bryant Dead in Helicopter Crash,” headlines read, all of which were corroborated way too quickly.

Disbelief. I got out of my chair and flipped through my closet to find my Kobe jersey. Wearing it, I went about my day — dog park, grocery shopping, cooking — all while my mind was mostly blank.

It didn’t truly hit me until later that evening when I decided to tune into the NBA. Before one of the games, the broadcast featured a Kobe Bryant tribute, a montage of all his best highlights and quotes. Watching that video, all the emotions came rushing in. And for the first time, I and many others broke down crying to the death of someone we had never even met, but who touched our lives deeply. This was, without a doubt, one of the worst tragedies in modern sports history.

However, I found repose and inspiration in one thing: that Kobe did not regret a single minute of what limited time he had on this world. Because while he spent his life seeking greatness, he also did not forget for a moment to see and appreciate his own journey.

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Alexander Yu
ILLUMINATION

Self-development. Basketball. Unable to get dog hair off his clothes.