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What Kobe Bryant’s Death Reveals About Collective Grief

What we’re really mourning when we lose a beloved public figure

Kate Green Tripp
Elemental
3 min readJan 28, 2020

Photo: MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images

MyMy friend Paul is known for making everyone around him laugh uproariously. He is judicious, skeptical — definitely not one for drama. But this past Sunday, when news of Kobe Bryant’s tragic death hit, he was an emotional wreck. For a few hard, heavy hours, I barely recognized him.

Granted, Paul is an avid sports fan. He lives in L.A., is deeply literate in basketball, and has long admired Bryant’s incredible talent and larger-than-life persona. He is also 41 years old, as was Bryant. And of course, he is a feeling human being who was fairly triggered by such horrific news.

But as I watched him shake his head in disbelief at the news, tears welling, I wondered if the grief I saw spilling out belonged to this moment alone. I was reminded of another friend’s acute despair in the wake of Tom Petty’s death. A devoted fan and music junkie, he was nearly mute for days — overcome by the loss. There’s more to this sadness, I remember thinking at the time.

Sadness over the death of a public figure is often so strong because it is permitted.

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Elemental
Elemental

Published in Elemental

Elemental is a former publication from Medium for science-backed health and wellness coverage. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Kate Green Tripp
Kate Green Tripp

Written by Kate Green Tripp

Writer / Editor / Strategist. Comms Director, Stanford Impact Labs. I chase ideas & shape stories about science, society & innovation. Mostly, I belong outside.

Responses (11)

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Miss Kobe bryant and grateful for his legacy and inspiration he brought to us.

I loved this article. I was not much into basketball, but when Robin Williams died, I was absolutely heartbroken. He was my favorite funny person and knowing he also struggled with some of the same things I did…I just cried and cried. I do think we connect to these kinds of tragedies in a unique way.

Great story, very insightful!