Senseless death of a young person
05/26/2008 08:38 a.m.

So, my daughters go the the birthday party of one of their dearest friends. Like most parties, there are the crashers, the troublemakers who show up and try to start crap. And then there are the sweet, responsible people who try to keep things from getting out of hand.

Last night, one of those sweet young men, small in stature (5'3", maybe 130lbs); the brother of the host of this party, lost his life because a group of troublemakes showed up, and one of the troublemakes, allegedly unprovoked, hit this young man in the face, and when they went to wake him up this morning, he was dead. 24 years old, the whole rest of his life ahead of him, literally didn't know what hit him, and never woke up.

My younger daughter had stayed all night there (against my express instructions), witnessed part of the fighting that happened after the 24 year old got hit, and was one of the first people to discover this young man's dead body this morning. Of course there was alcohol and drug use going on at this party, and nobody, apparently, was capable of making sound decisions.

At first, I felt great relief that my own two girls were safe. So many other things could have happened. The alleged killer is a senior in high school with my older daughter and was supposed to graduate in a couple of weeks, but recently he's been seen high on Meth and was noted to be acting very aggressively last night. Other than that, no one is saying (or can figure out) why this happened, especially to the young man who died - one of the "sweetest guys" my girls have ever known.

But then, throughout the day, bits and pieces have been shifting deeper and deeper inward. I thought about the girl who's birthday party it was, and how she must be feeling. I thought about the birthday girl's older sister, who was the one who actually found the body this morning. I thought about the host, his brother, who lost a precious member of his family. And I thought about how, his mama and papa (who live in California) will never have their precious boy, ever again.

Maybe I'll write more later...


I am currently Dismayed
I am listening to my daughters crying and crying