To a friend, part 1

Started by Jeff Catalina, 03/31/2004 01:13AM
Posted 03/31/2004 01:13AM Opening Post
Hi Folks. I'm a little sad today. A guy I know was murdered last night while he worked at a local Radio Shack near my home. His name was Chris. He was shot to death in the process of an armed robbery. It seems that three men wearing ski masks entered the store shortly before closing and demanded money from the register and the safe. He was disabled, walked with a limp and a cane, and has had several brain surgeries in the past four or five years. And they shot him because he wasn't moving fast enough.
Previously he worked at a 7-11 right around the corner from me. I got to know him pretty well over the course of a year and a half because of my addiction to caffeine and the fact that I have multiple sclerosis, so we sometimes talked about our respective approaches to daily life. It was always a pleasure to talk with him about some of the simplest things. It was fun watching him kid with his regular customers, all of whom liked him, and even more fun watching him control the coffee station as if it was his own personal air traffic control tower. Never an empty pot, always a fresh pot brewing.
I felt like he enjoyed our conversations as much as I did. Maybe he was just being polite, but I believe he was the most genuine person I've ever met, and that he looked forward to them too. I always found it remarkable how happy he seemed, and marveled at how he never let his disabilities get the better of him. My disibilites are absolutely nothing compared to his. So positive an outlook on life I have never encountered before and it soon became my daily dose of *perspective*---one that I found I needed more and more, just like the coffee, I guess.


Posted 03/31/2004 01:14AM #1
When he told me that he was leaving 7-11 to work at Radio Shack, I found myself surprisingly upset with him. "How could you do this to me?" I demanded. "Whose gonna make my coffee?"---Chris made the BEST 7-11 coffee anywhere---I demanded even louder. It was of course in jest, and I told him that I was happy for him and wished him the best of luck, even if I was still going to miss him. After all, it WOULD be better for him to work somewhere that was less likely to be robbed. Radio Shack seemed a better bet than a 7-11 in that respect, or so I thought. That was six months ago.
So anyway, now he's dead, and I just can't figure out why it had to happen like this. The police caught one of the suspects after a lengthy pursuit; the other two remain at-large. There's so much anger in me right now, I don't know what to do with myself. I'm confused because I should only be concerned with his family, yet I want to see justice served in the most extreme manner possible.
It makes me sick just how vulnerable we all are. Every so often we are "reminded of our own mortality." I know it's an overused phrase, but I just can't seem to put my finger on any more clearly than that. What I will NEVER understand is what goes on the mind and world of the people who find it so easy to take a life. Right now there isn't any room in my mind to even listen to the answer, if there is indeed one at all. I can have no compassion for those who claim evil as a lifestyle.
I didn't mean to start a thread on crime. That's probably better off in the Politics forum if anyone wants to talk about that. I just wanted to post this as a kind of tribute, that's all. I'm gonna miss him.



Posted 04/01/2004 01:21PM #2
I am truly sorry and unfortunately just one of many murders that took place this week here in America. Another example of just how many jerks there are in the world and even in our own country. From Spammers to hackers, to scammers, to robbers and murderers. People who bilk old folks out of their retirement money and people who just like to be ornery with their fellow humans.

The older I get the more disenchanted I become with the world and my fellow humans. I guess it's part of growing old; we reach a point where we don't understand the world and of course our years increase the odds that we will experience unfortunate tragedies like you just have.

I have had similar earth shaking experiences and I can imagine what must be going through your head.

All the more reason to enjoy life and appreciate the good people in your life. Make every moment with them count and don't sweat the small stuff. Life is too short and there are too many bad things in this world to not make the most of every good moment and the time spent with good people, even though it seems there are fewer and fewer good people. I'm turning into my father, I don't understand the world anymore and I just want to check out to someplace in the wilderness and get away from the crime and the craziness of this world.

Kind of long winded but hopefully you get the drift. It's times like these that you hope the religious believers are correct, so that the guilty parties can get the proper kind of retribution. If not, let's hope the judicial system makes their lives hell while they are still here.

Daryl