Remebering Arien Barber

I'm sure most people who look at my blog on a regular basis are expecting comments about Palin's trooper scandal, the government's buying stocks, or Obama's lead in the polls. But today all that seems pretty unimportant. Pretty much everything in life today seems pointless. We see often the young black thug stereotype in movies, TV, and music. Many time they are elevated to a place of respect and even honor. That somehow they are some sort of modern day robin hood. That their thug status is "the realest" a young man can be. Today the thought of these people being though of as heroic and role models sickens me. Because last night one of them took away a young man from this earth. Arien Barber wasn't a statistic or some line in a song. He was a good man, and he was a friend of mine. He was not perfect as none of us are, but he wasn't a gangster or a drug dealer. He was someone's father, someone's son, and someone's brother. I never saw him happier or prouder than we he introduced me to his daughter. Even as kid he would be concerned with the feelings of others. I can remember my mother crying one day, and Arien was the one who consoled her. Now he's gone, because some fool decided to solve his problems with a gun. I am writing about this maybe for my own therapeutic reasons, because I don't know how many more tears I can shed. I just don't know why we can't see that it's us that this thug mentality is hurting. At the end of this nothing is solved. There is no glory to be claimed. There is just a mother without a son, children without a father, sisters without a brother, and friends left to mourn. No one ever gains anything when someone decides to be a "thug" and use a gun. The only thing that happens is that the world is deprived of knowing a man with a heart of gold like Arien Barber. And all we can do is ask God why?



We'll all miss you Arien, but we'll see you again one day.