Tears in the Details

I was sitting in the car listening to the radio - 'cause music always sounds best in the car - and saw a woman step out of her house in a long sleeve hoodie and a pair of jeans. As it was over 90 degrees, I thought " how peculiar. I wonder where she's going. Hopefully its very cold in the arena." I don't know why I thought "arena", it just made sense at the time. Thinking about the woman's hoodie reminded me of the Trayvon Martin Case in which a "neighborhood watch volunteer" followed, shot and killed a 17yr old "baby-faced" black boy, Trayvon, with unjustified reasons supposedly stemming from Trayvon's grey hoodie: A tragic case centered in racial profiling.


The whole story is heart wrenching but what really brought tears to my eyes was the report proclaiming what Trayvon was carrying on his person that rainy night he was fatally shot down. Amongst other things Trayvon Martin had a bag of skittles in his pocket. How perfect. What other way can you capsulate childhood and innocence than with a bag of fruity, colorful, chewy candy. Skittles. That detail reminds you that a CHILD is dead; a promise filled with dreams, prodigious Will, youth and sugar. P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

 by way of Google Images

Click on Trayvon Martin Case to read more details concerning the case

I'm not a desensitized psychopath making light of the murder but this detail, in relation to the entire story, -the irony, the tragedy, all the framework and trappings of the case,- the skittles, captivated me. It's what film makers and novelists spend their whole career trying to capture. It's a romantic detail: it makes a beautiful story.