A few weeks ago my wife informed me that a friend of mine had been shot outside of his house by a couple of assailants. My reaction was, “Are you serious?” “That’s messed up.” Although I assumed at that time that he was dead, after a few minutes of conversation about him I returned to regularly scheduled programming (life). Now you may be thinking, “What kind of friend is SLC”? When I use the term friend, I’m not necessarily talking about someone I’m yoked to, or deal with on a personal level on a regular basis. This particular person is a friend through music only and should probably be called an acquaintance. Since 1988, I’ve worked with him in various capacities including re-writing music parts to fit specific instruments, assisting in writing parts for hand bell choirs, performing with groups or as a soloist (trumpet) at churches where he was minister of music, or helping out in a high school production of Dream Girls. When the music stopped, so did our time together.
Although he generally carried himself well, I suspected he was gay, and a little freaky. Being gay doesn’t automatically mean you’re freaky, but in this case I felt he was. About 8 years ago I heard about his arrest for child molestation (high school teacher). I hadn’t seen him in about 6 years. I wasn’t surprised about his arrest. I may have been a little disappointed since I know there are a lot of nasty adults willing to satisfy any perversion, but I wasn’t surprised. And I’m sad to say that when he got shot it was just a blip on the radar screen.
I thought about him more on Monday October 27, when I went to the web to get an update on the Hudson family tragedy. I don’t want to become desensitized to murder in any case, and I questioned why I wasn’t affected more by the shooting of someone I knew for 20 years, but was silenced and saddened by the death of Julian. When I looked at the web page and saw Julian’s face for the 100th time, I looked away. When there was still a chance he had survived it was different, but knowing now that his life was taken in the same way my friend’s life was almost taken hurt. Yes. That one hurt. And I’m glad it did.
Along with praying for the Hudson family, join me in prayer for that community. Pray that in the future when shots ring out, someone will place a call “just in case”, and that they lose the de-sensitivity that occurs in neighborhoods where gun shots are a daily occurrence.
Love y’all
SLC
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Yes I'm praying for the Hudson Family. I know exactly what you mean when you say that the death of a stranger (who happens to be tied to a celebrity) sometimes effects us more than someone we actually know...That's part of our
ReplyDeleteAmerican Culture.We are bombarded with so much news about celebrities,we feel as if we know them.
PS- as you probably know by now..
Kevin survived.
My prayers are with her as well. Her family truly meant everything to her. All I can say is that she must have faith in GOD because she is still standing. He has to be holding her up and I give praise to him even during this very devestating time.
ReplyDeleteLove, peace & blessings!
Julian's death really hurt me because he was a child. It's bad enough when an adult is murdered, but to hear that this child died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head just hurts my heart. I could not, and don't want to, imagine outliving my children. I'm not sure that's something I could survive.
ReplyDeleteThe worse thing is that this happens in our communities far more than we even know.
ReplyDelete-OG
Keith; I normally wouldn't have heard about this case unless it happened locally. I knew my acquaintance was vulnerable, but this kid is the victim of some adult mess.
ReplyDeleteFree Spirit; Good to see she's still tied to her local Church.
Strongblkwmn; My kids are a major chunk of my raison detre' (reason for living).
OG. Main word being OUR.
i'll give my prayer to hudson family
ReplyDeleteGood point. I think you may not have been as affected by your acquaintence getting shot as you were by Julian becaue Julian was a child, a baby and your friend was an adult with a shady past at that which involved with hurting children that should have been able to trust him. Somehow it's easier for us to accept bad things happening to people that do bad things (notice I didn't say "bad people") than it is for us to accept bad things happending to innocent children. Or at least that's my take on it. The senseless violence HAS to stop.
ReplyDelete