Election Day: Part II

Today was a gloomy day. I'm disappointed by the results of the election (although we did manage to elect a Republican Governor).

It is a gloomy day becuase a member of the University of Miami Football team was killed late yesterday afternoon. This is a very tragic event. I am sad for the family of the Bryan Pata. But his death made me realize something else yesterday.

[Sidebar: People have been calling the local sports talk shows talking about how bad they feel and how terrible this is. I think this is terrible and my thoughts go out to the guy's family, friends and teammates. But I am not grieving today. I did not know him personally. Unfortunately, many young African American men are shot every day. There is probably at least one University of Miami student who dies for some reason each year. But no one calls the talk shows and talks about how sad they are. People need to put this in perspective: you may be a fan, but unless you knew the kid, you have no idea how much grief his death has caused and you need to get a better hold of reality if this is affecting you as much as you say it is on the radio. Recognize it for the tragedy it is and be mindful of the people it really affects, but get over yourself.
On another note, he was killed in an apartment complex that is less than half a mile from where we lived through law school. We actually looked at an apartment in the complex where he was shot (or across the street...I haven't seen the actual complex on TV yet, but recognize the address). It was not a bad neighborhood. It is a decent neighborhood and we never felt unsafe in three years. Knowing that, I hope people don't turn this into another story about the thugs at UM. I don't know the facts yet, but I know the kid was not in a place he shouldn't have been]

What I realized is this: elections do affect us, but not as much as we might think. On an individual level, an election is meaningless when something like this happens. In the middle of the election night coverage, they news showed shots of friends and family of this guy gathered around, shocked and grieving. Meanwhile, people at various political rallies cheered and celebrated (or commiserated depending on outcomes), clueless to one family's tragedy. I'm sure this played out in various forms all across the country yesterday as people lost loved ones, lost jobs, got divorced, etc. Whether you are happy or sad about the election, please take a moment to be grateful for the things and people you have, regardless of whether your candidate won. There will always be another election, but we are blessed if we get one more day with our loved ones.