Most of my buddies and I
turned 18 between the years 1965 & 66, technically adults, still foolish, and
immature babies. One of my buddies Gary, was more than foolish, he was a
criminal, and he was in and out of juvenile jails all the time. His parents
were drunks, and they divorced when Gary was 12, by 14, he was essentially
homeless. Gary would visit his friend’s warm homes, take a shower, wash his
clothes and sometimes stay the night; my mother would always feed him.
Gary had no home and no one
to help and guide him, among our group, the betting was 6 to 5 he would never
live to see 21. One morning I got a call from Gary, he had just turned 18, and
he was in adult jail. I never received a call from anyone in jail, so I was
excited. The first thing I asked Gary is why you were in jail, he said, “I was
ignorant”.
Last Friday morning, I woke
up to the O.J. Simpson sentencing trail on all the local TV channels. It looked
like O.J. was crying when he said he did not know his actions amounted to
crimes. He pleated with the judge for mercy before she sentenced him to at
least nine years in jail before he is eligible for parole. What was he
thinking, how could this be, nine years in jail for doing a foolish, immature
stunt? He was just a little ignorant, expecting a slap on the wrist, and to be
back on the streets in a few weeks. Of course, this is 2008, OJ is 61 not 18,
and unlike Gary, he had a superstar life.
Nevertheless, our society is
not as forgiving or lenient as it once was; we pay dearly for small mistakes.
Overdraw your checking account, make a car payment late, forget to buckle your
seatbelt, even go over your cell phone minutes, you pay stiff penalties. Even
children are not exempt; everywhere there are signs “no skateboards, no ball
playing, no underage hanging out. Cops patrol the Strip and give tickets to
teenagers for cruising on the weekend. On the weekend, cruising and hanging out
on the Strip was a right of passage when I was a teenager.
I am not saying we should
have sympathy for OJ; it does seem like he is in some weird time warp, oblivious
to the fact we are video taped and tracked from the time we leave our homes.
Our finances, Internet surfing, phone calls, TV viewing, cars, and much more are
tracked, someone, somewhere, is watching all our movements.
In 1965, we had less than 200
million people, now we have over 300 million people; just our size alone makes
the country more difficult to govern. All the same, maybe we would be better
off with a less punitive, more moderate, compassionate, and easygoing society.
Not to be out-done by local
TV, please view my OJ video of his first court appearance.
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