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
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
Comments
American 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.
Love, peace & blessings!
-OG
Free 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.