Death
How desensitized we are...
Tonight after the youth rally, a bunch of us went for siu ye along a street in Chinatown. We split into two or three groups and each went to a different restaurant, all adjacent to one another. After about half an hour, my buddy's cousin called us from next door informing us that we should stay put for a while because he'd heard gunshots, a guy in the car across the street from us was dead, and he'd just reported it to the police.
The cops arrived pretty soon afterwards, and a group of us clustered around the windows to catch the action - do you see anything? Is that a shoulder? Is he actually dead? Was it a drive-by? Did you hear anything? What's going on? Wow...this is pretty scary! Are they waiting for the coroner? Hey look, k-9 unit! etc
It really saddens me and strikes me that I was so close to it...less than 50ft away, literally. Separated by a pane of glass. Because our restaurant was so loud, we didn't hear a thing...and it just boggles the mind that we can be so oblivious. Someone next to us has just died, and we continue to eat like nothing has happened. When we do realize that something's up, all we can obsess over is the drama of it all. Where is the compassion? Yes, it's true - there's nothing we could have done. What else was there left to do except continue on with life and make the best of our situation, being kept inside until the police allowed us to leave? It was all I could do to take a moment of silence to acknowledge that tonight, someone has lost their son, their brother, perhaps their husband or father, their friend. It was all I could do to give it up to the Loving God of the Universe and pray that good will come out of this...some day, some how.
It's getting to be a scary city here. It just makes me so incredibly sad...Lord, come again and rule over us...we're making a mess of things...
Tonight after the youth rally, a bunch of us went for siu ye along a street in Chinatown. We split into two or three groups and each went to a different restaurant, all adjacent to one another. After about half an hour, my buddy's cousin called us from next door informing us that we should stay put for a while because he'd heard gunshots, a guy in the car across the street from us was dead, and he'd just reported it to the police.
The cops arrived pretty soon afterwards, and a group of us clustered around the windows to catch the action - do you see anything? Is that a shoulder? Is he actually dead? Was it a drive-by? Did you hear anything? What's going on? Wow...this is pretty scary! Are they waiting for the coroner? Hey look, k-9 unit! etc
It really saddens me and strikes me that I was so close to it...less than 50ft away, literally. Separated by a pane of glass. Because our restaurant was so loud, we didn't hear a thing...and it just boggles the mind that we can be so oblivious. Someone next to us has just died, and we continue to eat like nothing has happened. When we do realize that something's up, all we can obsess over is the drama of it all. Where is the compassion? Yes, it's true - there's nothing we could have done. What else was there left to do except continue on with life and make the best of our situation, being kept inside until the police allowed us to leave? It was all I could do to take a moment of silence to acknowledge that tonight, someone has lost their son, their brother, perhaps their husband or father, their friend. It was all I could do to give it up to the Loving God of the Universe and pray that good will come out of this...some day, some how.
It's getting to be a scary city here. It just makes me so incredibly sad...Lord, come again and rule over us...we're making a mess of things...