On Sunday, January 26th, 2020, breaking news erupted into the ears of people around the country. Kobe Bryant, basketball legend, father of four, husband of twenty years, and an inspiration to many, was pronounced dead after a helicopter crash. He was only forty-one.

Minutes later, more tragedy was presented to the public: Bryant’s daughter, Gianna, also died in the crash. She was only thirteen.

There was said to be nine people on the plane, including the pilot; Ara Zobayan; a baseball coach, John Altobelli and his wife, Keri, and daughter, Alyssa; another mother, Sarah Chester, and teenage daughter, Payton; Christina Mauser, a basketball coach; and Kobe and his daughter. The helicopter was heading to Orange County, California, where Kobe was going to coach his daughter’s basketball game.

Gianna, commonly known as “Gigi,” was an emerging basketball star. She was determined to carry out Kobe’s legacy, and she was evolving into a player that could’ve altered the face of women’s basketball. There was a bright life ahead of her, and it was all stolen away way too soon.

Kobe, also known as the “Black Mamba,” achieved many things throughout his ephemeral life. He won five NBA championships, made fifteen All-Star Game appearances, was awarded two NBA Finals MVP awards, and a single regular-season MVP award. 

Beyond the athletic accomplishments, Kobe stood as an icon to thousands and thousands of people. No matter how oblivious one is to sports, Kobe’s name became so viral that nearly anyone would recognize it. He was a player, and person, who would remain in history.

This is the exact reason why his death was so shocking. He only retired back in 2016, he was forty-one, he is Kobe Bryant—there’s no way this could’ve happened to him. There’s no way his emerging daughter could’ve passed away, too.

But the sad truth is that the span of a human life is so unpredictable. We don’t know how much time we have; we never know when the beautiful gift of life will be torn from our fingertips. 

Kobe and Gianna’s tragedy can be used as a perfect example of just how important it is to cherish every moment you have breathing and every person you care about. Life is too unpredictable to let little things ruin moments. We never know when we could lose someone we love or when we could lose our own lives.

More times than most people realize, the best people are taken too early. There are tragic accidents that occur every day; people’s lives are entirely altered in a split second. We live in a world where things are constantly changing—constantly happening—the world remains constantly in motion. The next day is just as unpredictable as the last, and the importance within the cliche, “anything can happen,” is far too underappreciated.

Obviously, in life, we are going to get upset over some of the little things. We are going to fight with those we care about most. We’re going to be angry or upset or sad sometimes. There are going to be moments when the person you love most is the one who makes you the most upset. All of this is part of life, sometimes part of life is not making the most of every moment. It’s okay to be upset, but it’s also important to not spend too much time stuck on one little problem. 

Overall, the most important thing of all of this is that at the end of the day, you let those you care about know you care.

No one is ever going to live up to the cliche of “making the most of every moment,” but it’s important to cherish the moments you do have, the moments when you’re not upset, and to constantly remind the people you love that they matter. 

You never know when the world could come crashing down, so learn from the death of Kobe and Ginna, learn from the other people on the helicopter, learn from any other story showing the truth of how quickly and spontaneously a life can be taken. 

You never know when it could happen or who it could happen to, but while you have the time on this Earth, make sure all the good moments are what rest atop the bad; appreciate those you love and those who love you, even in their worst times. You never know how important the littlest moments could be one day.

In the end, human life is unpredictably ephemeral and even the most famous, legendary people are unprotected from that.