Today someone was shot on H Street. He turned out to be the older brother of DeOnté Rawlings, a boy who was killed in a theft-related incident by an off-duty police officer in 2007.
So George Rawlings had to live through the loss of his little brother, and witness a murder of a friend of his on Halloween, just to end up shot and killed as he was trying to board a bus after leaving the funeral.
Ironic, at best. But I can't help thinking of Mrs. Rawlings and her pain as a mother tonight.
_________
We've had plenty of ups and downs in the neighborhood– crime seems to flare up every once in a while and rattle the nerves of everyone, and it's been rattly lately. But then in the greater scheme of things, horrible things like the Ft. Hood murders happen, just as horribly and senselessly.
And the economy seems in a slump and people are getting laid off left and right and the dollar is weak and Those Who Claim To Know Better keep on trying to convince us that we're going to hell in a hand basket and that everything is going even more downhill than downhill.
But if you slow down and stop spinning out of control with fear and paranoia, you see that things tend to gravitate toward the middle. It's true that people die and people get out of control and sadness and unemployment prevail. But it's also true that this neighborhood is teeming with pregnant bellies everywhere and people seek treatment for their mental illness so they can have better lives and people hold block parties and splash in puddles and people find new jobs every day.
Some things come and some things go. Just when you think you can't handle another bit of sadness, someone goes and tells a dumb joke and you laugh.
The wheel of fortune embodies infinity– no beginning and no end, just like life itself.
A Daily Dose of Zen Sarcasm! 