I loved Yvonne Abraham's April 16 editorial in the Boston Globe: "Why Odin Lloyd's life matters" linked here or below. What is to be said about a nation that puts money and fame far beyond anything else? It is who we are and because of it one gets the Patriots' star Aaron Hernandez spectacle for days. In truth Hernandez should get none of our attention but I will admit to the frailty of being glued to a sensationalist story. Worse, I spent much of the evening of the verdict not simply talking about it but thinking about it. I could not get Aaron Hernandez out of my mind but not why one might think.
I weep. I weep for all the Hernandezes who live a life filled with dastardly deeds. I weep not for Aaron Hernandez per se but I weep for life itself and its many filled with gifted potential wasted.
Hernandez, with his fame, money and inordinate talent could have helped those who needed his help. He could have made trips to Boston Children's Hospital or to any hospital visiting with kids who were not so lucky to have been bestowed the gifts that Hernandez was given. He could have made a difference and meant something to those who needed something. He could have served as an example not only to those children but to his own daughter the affections of whom he has squandered. What a shame it is indeed. His life could have been so good and less fortunate people could have reaped so much from it.
For a short time we are given a gift to see life's beauty. This gift was wasted on Aaron Hernandez and thousands more like he who sit in jails to decompose. He should have thanked fate that he was blessed to view heaven's gate and could have used those blessings for the collective good.
It is Odin Lloyd's misfortune to have tripped over a curse that was Hernandez. In the end I will think of Odin Lloyd and his mother. If his mother is an example of who Odin Lloyd was then he must have been a very nice man indeed! We should and I will in time forget Aaron Hernandez and, in the end, I hope to remember longer the mattered life he so chillingly and malevolently took.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/04/15/why-odin-lloyd-black-life-matters/gC3G5uWMhVHDBMdEZ6wPKP/story.html#comments
