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Now here's today's news, discerned differently.

Three months after 9-11, Kobe Bryant wrote a column for Newsweek, reflecting on what he had learned

from the tragedy.

He stated, I've learned also that you can't take things for granted.

You know how we always say, see you later?

One thing I've realized from September 11 is that you can't ever say that for sure.

Things change in the blink of an eye. People go to work and don't come back. One minute they're living,

and the next minute they're not. And it doesn't matter who you are. There's nothing you can do about it.

He concluded, You never know when our time here will be over, so we all need

to make the most of every minute we have. Just as Kobe Bryant sought meaning after the aftermath

of 9-11, I've been searching for meaning in his shocking death. The unpredictability of life he

highlighted in his Newsweek article is one obvious

fact. Another is his observation that, with regard to mortality, it doesn't matter who you are.

A third factor illustrated by his death is the way our culture focuses on celebrity. For example,

seven other people died in the helicopter

crash along with Bryant and his daughter Gianna, but their stories have not been the focus of

media attention. One of them was John Altebelli, a baseball coach who helped hundreds of players

earned scholarships to Division I programs over the years. He and his wife Carrie were

on board the helicopter with their daughter Alyssa, who played on the same basketball team as

Gianna Bryant. Another victim was Christina Mouser, the top assistant on the girls' basketball team.

...