I suppose I should first start off with an obligatory link, since it’s too painful to type out the particulars myself. For the surfing-impaired, the gist is that a coworker of mine, the sports editor at the newspaper i work for, was attacked, beaten to death, and apparently robbed as he stopped on his way home late last night to feed a stray cat in the employee parking lot.
I am not looking for sympathy. There are those who need it much more than I right now. And sympathy from strangers on a message board, however well intentioned, does little to ease the feelings.
I am not looking to rant, really. I have the anger, the sadness, the frustration, but I’m just too numb, dazed, and freaked out to do so right now.
I guess I’m just looking to vent. At the stupidity of the death of one of my closest coworkers; as a photographer who works nights and weekends (high time for sports events), I spent more time working with him than with my own editor. I’m pretty new to the world of journalism, but he was as good a mentor as could be asked for - for chrissakes, he even wrote me a letter of recommendation for grad school a few weeks ago.
And I’d like to vent the rage I feel at cowards who would strike a warm, even-keeled, funny guy in the middle of the night, apparently for nothing more than his fucking wallet, which he probably would have just given them anyway. And at the fact that living a smallish city, where this is only the third murder all year, and where random violent crime like this is essentially unknown, we were lulled into a false sense of complacency. I’d seen seedy people from the hood near the parking lot at night before (the building is, after all, near some of the rougher neighborhoods in town). Hell, someone was even carjacked at the gas station across the street once. But even still, all those crimes (including the carjacking) were invariably just people in the hood acting out on other people in the hood; somehow, the fact that we were caucasian and middle-class and not involved in the drug trade made us think we were invincible to the crime occurring around us at work.
And finally, I’d like to vent about the fact that I frequently left the building late at night myself, laden down with as much as ten thousand dollars in camera gear, making myself the perfect target for robbers. And that perhaps the only reason it’s wasn’t me laying dying in a pool of blood next to my car was because yesterday was my day off.
this morning, i came in, and sitting on top of my inbox was a fresh sports assignment for tonight scrawled out in his handwriting. that was bad enough, but then i realized that the last thing he usually did at night before going home was fill out photo requests, so the piece of paper i was holding probably represented some of the last moments of his life.
I suspect you won’t get too many replies to this, schief2, simply because it is very hard to know what to say. It’s all too easy to interpret this as people not caring - please don’t.
I always get a bit emotional when reading these sort of things, because I feel for a moment like I kind of knew the person who died. Through you, the person who wrote about him. Because you knew him, and you miss him.
Thanks for telling us about him. He sounds like a fantastic guy.
My good thoughts and prayers go out to all of his friends, and loved ones.
Fuck. I can’t believe this shit. A man who takes the time, after a long day at work, to feed a stray cat has got to be a good person. As mentioned above, it’s hard to find the appropriate thing to say, schief2, but as meaningless as my post is, your post moved me, and I felt I had to say something.
Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the life of your beautiful friend. Please know that, though we are strangers, we share your grief and outrage. We do care, and will help you in any way possible. God go with you always.
I find myself “tearing up” while reading it, something that seems to happen a lot more these days. I noticed one of the newscasters doing the same thing after a moving story last night. We’ve all been through so much lately that the true value of a single human life has really been driven home for most of us. That this great guy lost his for no fucking reason just saddens the shit out of me.
My most since condolences go out to all that knew and will miss him.
I don’t even know what to say about the persons that did this. What punishment do you reserve for those that don’t value life?
This is outrageous. I guess it makes me doubly mad because we’re in a period where (supposedly) we all have a common enemy in hatred and terrorism and we don’t have to be beating on each other, either in this country or across borders. Then for some lowlife(s) to do this in a parking lot in Missouri? Well, it just leaves me without words.
I believe in karma (it’s nicer than to admit my desire for revenge). Whoever did this must already have a miserable life. By all that is just and holy, their life will get worse, in numerous ways both small and large.
I know you said you don’t want sympathy, so I will just thank you for sharing this tribute to your friend and co-worker.
And to the people who did this:
Fuck you! May a seething tornado of white hot fury suck in your black souls and roast them for eternity. May your bones ache and your mind scream in agony forever!
I was so sorry to hear about this. Just so you know, all of us over at the other paper are pretty broken up. It’s like losing a colleague for us, too. Even though most of us never got a chance to work with him, we’ve lost a part of the Columbia news community. I didn’t know him, but he sounded like a really great guy, and it’s just awful that he went that way. Let me know if you need anything at all.
