Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Why?


Through the years that my husband owned the junkyard he employed a lot of people. Many came and went with little more than a blip in our lives. The turnover rate at a business like that can be as high as the rate for a retail store which is around 75%.

But there were some with whom we became friends. We socialized with their families and watched their children grow up as they watched our children do the same.

There was one family of young men who were special to us.

The first one we knew was a big tough-talking guy. He was really a good guy but his mouth often got him into trouble. When he would insult someone at a business we dealt with I was the one who had to go try to rectify the situation.

Basically he was a nice person but he could not control his temper when he thought he was being slighted. The last I heard he is living in Georgia again.

His brother came up and worked for us for a short time. He was a charismatic guy who liked the ladies. He went home to Georgia shortly after he came. He was killed when a jealous husband stabbed him.

A cousin was a truly hard worker. He did not drink and did not carouse with women. He and his wife were raising 3 children and staying out of trouble. Even though they were quite a bit younger than we were we spent a lot of time with them.

His brother was not as dedicated to working for a living. He considered himself a "pretty boy" and tried to give of himself to as many women as possible. His wife put up with it far longer than she should have before she divorced him. They had 2 little boys.

Then another cousin came from Colorado. He was older and had a larger family. He worked as hard as he had to to make his wages but no more. He was quiet and kept to himself.

We no longer had the junkyard. My husband and I divorced. And as so often happens we sort of lost touch with some of our friends.

The two cousins and their cousin from Colorado opened a junkyard of their own. From what I heard they were doing well. I was happy for them.

Then one day I heard on the news that their junkyard had been robbed at gun point. The cousin from Colorado had been shot and killed.

The hard worker was there with him but he was okay.

The "pretty boy" had settled down as he matured but he was home that day with his family. When his brother called to tell him what happened he was very upset.

He was on the phone to the police trying to get some help and some information. As he was on the phone he had a heart attack and died instantly.

It was a tragic day for their family. We all mourned because it was all so senseless.

It is another example of living life while we can. There are no guarantees of another day.

23 comments:

  1. Your last sentence says it all, Emma. And after hearing and reading of all the recent shotting deaths in the U.S. That last sentence is ever more true. Life does not some with a guarantee.

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    1. I believe the recent events are what made me think of my friends. We all must live our own lives. Hopefully we will share something good along the way.

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  2. So tragic! That family had more than its share of violence. I hope the remainder if the family has some peace finally.

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    1. I hope so too. But that trragedy will always be there too.

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  3. What a tragic event, and living daily, appreciating each moment, is the only way to go. Have a nice week.

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  4. Goodness, what a group of tales!

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    1. All the sadness touched just one family. It is heartbreaking.

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    2. We wouldn’t have heard of these stories if not for you. Some country music star’s son drowned last week, and the whole country was informed repeatedly, but why? Think of all the sons who drowned without anyone but their few loved ones knowing or caring.

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    3. It is a sad fact that the media perceives famous people as more important as far as reporting on them. I suppose it is a good thing to bring issues out this way but it certainly leaves us "little people" feeling less than.

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    4. "It is a sad fact that the media perceives famous people as more important as far as reporting on them."

      And, in this case, the child of a famous person (not that I had ever heard of him). The implication is certainly that such people's deaths and heartaches matter more than the deaths and heartaches of the rest of us, but it's also true that the TV news has come to be ever more slanted toward "human interest" reporting than toward news that makes a difference in the lives of most people.

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    5. You make an excellent point. News journalists used to work very hard at not slanting the news in any way. Of course they were not always successful because they were humans after all. But I wish they would once again state it as such when they give an editorial opinion rather than just reporting the facts.

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  5. It is sad. It reminds us to love the people around us and show them we do.

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  6. Well, what an unlucky family!
    I could suspect that their real surname is Kennedy.
    I think their story could become a film one day...

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    1. It would be too unhappy to watch a movie about this.

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  7. Oh, it is sad to read this. It breaks your heart to think of the families suffering the losses of their loved ones.

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    1. Every family suffers losses. This was just a too too tragic story.

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  8. Heart breaking. It is difficult for the families to live without the lovable person.All families have some or other thing like this.

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    1. You are right. All families suffer losses and pain. It hurts every time.

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  9. A sad story! And "living each day" is a good advice - if we look e.g. to Nice today one gets really depressed.

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    1. I want people to not succumb to the terror inflicted by things like the Nice attacks. We need to know that they are happening of course. But the reason these people are called terrorists is because they want to cripple us with fear. We need to live our lives while insisting that those who have the power to do so rid our world of these terrible people.

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