I Wish Hal David Knew

Many of you don’t have any idea who Hal David is, nor do you probably care. Tough shit, I’m going to tell you anyway. He was a lyricist who, along with composer Burt Bacharach, formed one of the most successful and prolific music tandems ever. They were the Rogers and Hammerstein of my parent’s generation. Think a schmaltzy version of Lennon and McCartney, or Elton John and Bernie Taupin for that matter. The point is, the opening line to one of many corny songs he wrote asked the question “What’s it all about…” Well, several events featured prominently in the past week’s news make me ask the same question.

I have been blogging for over a year. Every Wednesday without fail, I weigh in on some subject matter. The content ranges from the irreverent to the sublime, from the ridiculous to pieces historically factual, sometimes all of the above. It was my understanding that a blog is just such a forum for that type of thing. Today, I ponder. I also apologize for the Debbie Downer content. If you’re not up for it, pass this week, I’ll understand.

As a disclaimer, I am not a pillar of virtue. I was never purported to be. However, all that “he who has not sinned,” “judge ye not, lest ye be judged” crap aside, murders disturb me. Due to their frequency, I have not become so jaded that when I hear one has occurred, it at least elicits a shaking of a cast down head. Two murders happened recently that have grabbed headlines. One has garnered national attention, while the other happened a mere twenty-five miles away here in South Florida.

The murder of Connecticut Husky defensive back Jasper Howard has received attention because Howard was a college football player of note. The murder of fourteen year old Matthew Gorzynski of Coral Springs is notable because the alleged perpetrator is Matthew’s fifteen year old brother William. One does not sadden me more than another. Christ, people are dying everyday everywhere. There are two separate conflicts going on where people intentionally try to kill each other. In the big picture, all of this upsets me, but the killings disturb me in terms of what’s happening in our society.

I’m not stupid. I know murder, though we may not like it, is part of our culture. That does not mean I have to understand it. As a matter of fact, I’m trying to wrap my brain around why these murders have taken up space in my head. Why did a kid from Miami, who wanted to get out of his environment so badly, that he went to a college town located, as my son put it “in the middle of nowhere.” He devoted himself to the goals of getting his college degree, and while he was at it, perhaps honing his football skills to such a level that playing professional football might be in his future. If he did indeed succeed at the next level, the money provided would allow him to move the rest of his family out of the toxic environs of inner-city Miami. The very thing Jasper Howard desperately sought to escape, found him sixteen-hundred miles away.

I don’t know the particulars of this case. Authorities have not indicated the motive of the three assailants currently in custody. Police investigating the crime said that one of the suspects pulled the fire alarm to vacate the building where a campus dance was taking place. Once, outside, a fracas broke out. It was during the melee Howard was stabbed by John William Lomax III. (why do killers always have three names when being identified?) Did these three young men travel thirty miles just to start a ruckus for lack of something to do? Was a girl involved? Was this a crime of passion? Was this a crime of boredom? These are questions that keep running through my head. The bottom line is, why did it happen at all? I don’t much like not being able to figure any of this out. To compound my inability to grasp the meaning behind this heinous event, another occurs even more bizarre, sad, and puzzling.

Yesterday, the news reported that William Gorzynski (maybe he doesn’t warrant a third name because he’s a minor) stabbed his younger brother Matthew in the chest with a kitchen knife. What drove William to commit such an act? The two brothers had an argument over the volume on the computer speakers. When I heard this I thought my ability to disseminate information had gone drastically awry. Again, all the information surrounding the confrontation is sketchy at best. Was the suspect a troublemaker at school? Had he been causing problems since his mother left “several” years ago. Is this an isolated incident? What’s been building for so long that would prompt this sort of outburst over speaker volume? I can’t even fathom what the father of these two boys must be feeling, and/or agonizing over. Then to add insult to injury, my wife watched Oprah yesterday.

The program focused on a case involving a woman who loaded seven eleven year old girls into her minivan after a sleepover. She drove at a high rate of speed eventually crashing. Two of the girls were seriously injured. Another, the woman’s own daughter, did not survive. The woman was drunk. She killed her own kid. She’s hospitalized, under police guard while she recuperates from her injuries. She’s under a suicide watch. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!? My god, I’m getting depressed (incensed) all over again writing this.

As I get older, there are several nagging questions l don’t have definitive answers to. The standard “what’s the meaning of life” is one. Why do some people die, while others get the opportunity to live? Why do some kids get cancer at age six, and others live to ninety before they’re diagnosed? Why do things happen that gnaw at me, like the ones I just mentioned? I don’t want to summarily dismiss it as “all part of god’s plan,” whatever the fuck that’s suppose to mean. That sounds like a copout to me. I used to say I hope the answers to these questions, and all the others much less significant, will be revealed to me when I die. It won’t matter then though. This “me” will no longer exist and I won’t give a shit. I give a shit now!