As I scrolled through my friends’ stories on social media on Sunday, it became increasingly clear to me that it was going to be a strange week. News of Kobe Bryant’s passing, a basketball superstar also known as the “Black Mamba,” shook the sports world and the people all over the world in general. It got me thinking; why and how does the life and death of one person touch so many people at the same time?

I am not a sports person, but I know of Kobe through some of my friends, who are devastated by the loss, and through people yelling “Kobe!” before miserably missing the trashcan. I cannot fathom what it would be like to lose someone whom I have looked up to from afar, but I realize that I would feel deeply saddened, of course, if, say, my favorite author bid adieu to life.

We are creatures of need, at the very core. We love things. I love obscure electronic music and mainstream adventure books. Several of my friends are into sports, especially here in Iowa, where college football and mainstream sports as a whole are huge. Perhaps having someone that we can look up to is an inherent necessity for us to feel okay. Carl Jung described “archetypes” as ancient patterns of personality that are the shared heritage of the human life. Having an idol, then, could be one of these.

Maybe an important factor in the observation of famous deaths is also the way they left the world. Dying at a young age, dying via self-harm, dying via a freak accident and so on all leave a deeper impact on their fans, I believe. Of course, that is not to undermine the grief of a natural passing either.

But then again, death is a part of life. It’s the yin and yang of existence. Why is this so impactful, then? There could be several explanations. To paraphrase a friend of mine, perhaps now that religion is no longer as deep-rooted as it used to be some centuries ago, it is but natural for divine figures to be supplanted by persons in the higher strata of society, especially when these persons have been a part of one’s childhood, or they have been an outstanding aspect of some people’s deep passions.

Another reason could be the presence of these famous personalities through memorable occasions. As a kid, I remember watching Indiana Jones zip through booby traps and saving the day while looking ruggedly handsome and getting the punchline right. Did I idolize him? To an extent. Sharing some of these personality traits aside, I am sad that the series has ended and do believe that no one will replace Harrison Ford as the Indy Jones I remember.

This is why, perhaps, a lot people’s heroes are musicians and actors and sports people and a few authors and so on. It is easy to place your faith in a person and relate to them and be inspired by them from afar. And when this famous person is no more, it allows for a revisiting of their lives with a mournful passion with the common denominator of being known by people all over the world. But alas, sometimes it really do be like that.