Kobe, Billie Eilish, and Newport-Mesa Students...

KOBE, BILLIE EILISH, AND NEWPORT-MESA STUDENTS

We have a lot to learn from Kobe and Billie Eilish.
What??

We are just now finding out what a kind of man Kobe was. I like to think if he and Gianna hadn’t been on that helicopter, he would be over to the Chesters, Altobellians, Maousers , and Zobayan’s houses day and night comforting them and doing all he could. His instinct would be to help.
Kobe had that wonderful thing about him which enabled him to keep in touch with people all the time…different people, diverse people, people who needed him and people he needed. He reached out.

Apparently, he was an inveterate caller. Liz Dolan, who was in marketing, told the story on the Satellite Sisters podcast about him calling her completely out of the blue, wanting to talk about marketing. He was late to the meeting they set up because he was taking his daughter to school. (Cue a stifled sob here.)

His charities are legion and most of them include kids.

Kobe coached kids, and opened his now famous Mamba Sports Academy.
He had stopped twice just in the past few months to help people involved in traffic accidents, and kept in touch after.

He called injured athletes with friendship and advice…especially young athletes.
Kobe once said with true conviction “It’s a belief that we have a responsibility to help one another. It’s the fundamental belief. If you have the opportunity to do that, it’s our responsibility as people to help one another. It’s as simple as that.”

It’s as simple as that.

Billie Eilish just won five Emmys. She is 18 years old. She is the same age as Kobe was when he started for the Lakers. Really young. She had suicidal thoughts, even after she became famous at the age of 15, and according to her, almost killed herself.

We have what can easily be called a pandemic among kids. Suicides have become the second-leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States, with depression the leading cause.
When Billie was asked what helped her out of her depression, she quickly answered “Mom” and then added “therapy”.

Did you get that Newport-Mesa School District THERAPY? And as we know for sure Therapy = Counselors. We cannot have too many of them; so hire more.
Eilish’s mom checked on her and kept checking, talked, and more importantly listened. I don’t think it’s too much to conjecture that it was Mom who got the right therapy for her daughter.
Billie now says "Sadness is a waste of time. It's ruined so many things that could have been amazing, because I was sad."

You’re probably thinking about what a stretch it is to connect Eilish to Bryant. It’s not when you think about what people in trouble really need…..In case you missed it….they need help.

I have always thought (and written ad nauseam) about what kids need. I think they need what they have always needed, but now on steroids. They need one person, one person on their side, one person they can call in the middle of the night, one person who will listen with purpose to them, one person they can count on always, one person who will be with them through life, one person who will call them out of the blue …like Kobe
.
Sometimes that person can’t be a parent. Sometimes it has to be a teacher, a counselor who steps out of his or her professional role, or even a parent of a friend.

Both Billie and Kobe have really shown us the way: Kobe with his unwavering help, kindness, and reaching out, and Billie with her music and her support for mental health which has helped and inspired so many troubled kids.

So….
Let’s be Billie
Let’s be Kobe..

It’s a simple as that.