None of us knew Kobe Bryant.

We knew who he was, what his most recent goals were, what his contributions were to the NBA and the sports world, but we didn’t KNOW him.

For those of us that idolize sports figures, musicians, or other celebrities, it can resonate with us in a way that really hits home.

It is all too often that someone I know is grieving a celebrity death and someone either makes fun of them or yells at them for grieving it as if it is a friend.

The reality is: for a lot of us, those celebrities that we grieve are our friends.

We look to them for guidance. We are inspired by them. We follow their lives as we would follow our friends from high school.

Whether you like him or not, Kobe was a figurehead for Los Angeles, the NBA, and for the sports world in general.

So many young athletes looked to him and how he was changing his life around as inspiration for their own lives.

So many people felt genuine connections with him.

Anyone that knows me knows that I hate the NBA with a strong passion. That being said, I have always had a tremendous amount of respect for Kobe the athlete and Kobe the person.

If you are feeling the effects of Kobe’s death and no one has told you already, it’s okay to grieve. It’s okay to cry over someone you didn’t know. It’s okay to be sad after losing someone with such a large impact on the world.

As we get older, more and more of our idols or prominent celebrities from our childhood are going to leave us.

It’s okay to mourn the loss of someone we felt so connected to, even if that connection was solely online or in our heads.

I have personally felt the effects of Kobe’s death so maybe that’s why I thought it was an important topic for this week’s column.

Regardless, hug your friends a little tighter this week. Tell someone you love them. Make sure you appreciate the little things.

Life is so fragile.

The victims of the Calabasas helicopter crash: Kobe Bryant, 41; Gianna Bryant, 13; John Altobelli, 56; Keri Altobelli; Alyssa Altobelli; Christina Mauser; Ara Zobayan; Sarah Chester; Payton Chester.