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totally off topic but I have to tell...

15 years ago

A friend of mine, who I have known for over 25 years, was killed last week. Single gunshot to the head.

The local (New Orleans) police are chalking it up to a gang related killing. Apparently, if you want to join a gang in New Orleans, you have to prove yourself by killing someone.

We grew up on the north shore of Long Island. Upper middle class neighborhood. He was the class president. straight A student. Full scholarship to UCLA. And now he is dead.

He was in New Orleans visiting family. Wrong place at the wrong time.

I know you guys well enough to know that you will respond with your sympathies. And I do appreciate that. But honestly, I am not looking for sympathy.

What I can't grasp in all of this, is the randomness of how it happened.

Two minutes earlier or later could have saved his life. So all I can ask is why???

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Comments (4)

paulc_gardener
15 years ago
As sad as it is, here in nearby Indianapolis it happens a lot. Usually it is sex or drugs, or both that is behind it.
ksrogers
15 years ago
Today, its very hard to ignore all the violence that goes on everywhere. I still feel that poor parenting is the main issue. If the parents were allowed to punish their kids like we were punished growing up (in the 50's- and 60's), I think less of these gangs would be doing what they seem to want to do. Even in elementry school the teachers would use the a wooden board rule (paddle) on the the kids behind, or water soaked rattans, if the kids were unruley. I saw both being used, and in those days the kids were not as aggressive and wild. Its peer pressure that gangs enjoy and also some means of sick pleasure that the kids seem to have when carring a gun. I blame a lot of it on drugs, and the ability and ease of getting guns. After President Kennedy was assasinated, there were major plans to stop the sale of hand guns to many people, but that all went away in just a very few years. We do need stricter gun laws, curfews for the kids, and more legal activites that they can get into, besides gangs and trouble. Every day, people are killed by a mindless gun toting nut, and they can be only 11 or 12 years old and carry lethal weapons!
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mom2wildboys
15 years ago
I think you answered your own question. There is really no answer to the "why". The world is disturbingly random. Some people would say, "God has a plan" or "Nothing happens without a reason", but I don't believe that. Sometimes, bad things happen and there's no reason why they happen to that person. I lived on Long Island for a dozen years (attended Stony Brook for grad school and stayed on) so I know a bit about the North Shore neighborhoods. I think those of us who grew up in sheltered environments (me: uber safe neighborhood in the middle of cornfields in a university town in Indiana) don't quite GET all the violence and crime that is a part of everyday life for many people (some of whom partake in it and some of whom are victims of it.) It's shocking when the violence we read about in the paper touches our insulated lives. I'm sorry to hear about this awful event. My condolences to you and to your friend's family.

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