Sad!

I am saddened by the verdict on the George Zimmerman case. Not that punishment was what I was looking for - that would not have changed the event that took place on 26th of February 2012. The sadness comes from the fact that the system we have, makes it possible for a young 17 year old to be killed by another person. The message the system sent out was that our society is okay with such events. We all know that we are not, and simply because wise lawmakers chose to write and approve laws that make it not just possible but probable, more innocent lives will be lost.

I saw the court case as it played out. A lot of the graphics and language could not be shown on TV, but from what I did see it is evident to me that the jury had no option but to give the verdict they did. There was more than ‘reasonable doubt’ in my mind as  the case was heavily favored towards Zimmerman - only Zimmerman’s perspective of the whole story could be presented. Where was Trayvon’s whole story? There wasn’t one because Zimmerman pulled out a gun and shot him dead. He did not choose to shoot him in the leg or in a place that could have stopped him, but to shoot him through the heart. If Zimmerman did not have a gun on him that night, he would not have been following Trayvon. He would have called the police and gone straight home - especially since he was aware that he had zero fighting skills - considering he was a 0.5 on a 1 to 10 scale after 18 months of MMA training. We told him it was okay for him to have that gun - our laws gave him permission to shoot Trayvon dead and then confirmed that he was right to have done so.

All that is needed is for one to feel threatened of bodily harm to take the life of another. That is how self-centered we are being made out to be. I am not that person. I do not want to be that person. I am neither that fearful, nor am I that hateful towards my fellow men & women. That is where the sadness comes from. The outcome needed to say that every one has the right to be walking on the streets of the country and unless there is proof of wrong doing one cannot be treated like a criminal. We do not have the right to simply look at someone and presume he/she is ‘a problem.’ Suspicion based on conjecture cannot be excused. In my opinion Trayvon should have been afforded the right to defend himself for being targeted - the benefit of the doubt should also have been his. If two people are defending the same right why is one ‘justifiably killed’ and the other ‘justifiably not guilty?’ 

The whole truth never came out. We are not truth tellers. We as a race are known to twist words, omit others, stay silent and manipulate our capacity to speak, simply to protect our selfish interests. A 17 year old died and we have no way of knowing if the 28 year old man who chose to shoot him is telling us the truth. We do not know if he knows the whole truth and chose not to tell it; if he does not know the truth as Trayvon saw it and so could not tell it or if he knows the truth and is telling it. Even if he is telling the whole truth about what ‘happened’ - he could not have felt what Trayvon was feeling when the altercation happened because he had not lived for 17 years in Trayvon’s body and head. Yet the dead boy and his family received a horrible punishment while the killer got his gun back along with the permission to repeat what he did to Trayvon. There is something wrong, something sad, about such a lop-sided system.