Grieving a Flawed Hero
It was impossible not to be shocked and saddened when the news broke about Kobe Bryant's death yesterday. I'm not a sports fan by any measure, but of course I know who Kobe is. He's a legend. He's a hero. He's a mentor. He's a father. He's a husband. And he was probably a rapist. I was on Twitter when the story leaked, and I have never before seen Twitter so collectively devastated. Every post in my feed was about Kobe. The shock, the denial, the anguish for his wife and kids - the posts were full of raw human emotion. And I felt them. It was impossible not to. Personally, my life doesn't look any different with or without Kobe in it, but for millions of other people it probably felt like a punch in the gut. It reminded me of how I felt when David Bowie died. I had to cancel plans that day because I needed to drink, cry, and listen to "Oh! You Pretty Things" on repeat. David Bowie was also a rapist (consensual but underage). Of course, th