LogFAQs > #975515208

He's been dead since Sunday and nobody bothered to tell me until today. I guess everyone thought someone else would.

The individual in question was a skinny guy, probably about 5'3". He was probably in his 60s. About a year ago, he caught a large woman robbing the food pantry at the church. Being the guy he was, he called her a slur and she knocked him out for it. He suffered a stroke immediately following and his health continued to debilitate ever since. A few months ago, he suffered a second stroke which left him unable to speak. Finally, this past weekend, he died.

It's an awkward funeral to attend. He helped my grandmother and was a friend (or at least acquaintance) of my father. He also helped out around the church. I figure that I owe it to him to be there. But this was also a guy who would walk down a hallway dropping slurs and not caring who heard them.

For what it's worth, I'm glad that he's out of his misery. I don't wish debilitating, life-altering, or communication-hindering conditions on anyone. He had some good in him, but that also depended on who you were. I can't say, "Oh, he was racist, but..." The sentence kinda ends with, "He was racist." And it got him killed.

I do think it's a little sad that the church got him off the street and indirectly got him killed. Maybe there's a lesson in it that he was given a second chance, but was cost that opportunity because he could never tried to overcome his prejudices. Though I don't think anyone who needs that lesson will ever hear or read about it.