Jumping to Conclusions

By now you've surely heard the tragic news story about Trayvon Martin. Perhaps you've already formed your opinion, or maybe you're like me and want to wait for all of the facts to come out before making your mind up about what happened. The fact that I went to high school with the shooter, and was actually good friends with his younger sister, may impact how I feel but I'd like to think I can be objective.



Only George Zimmerman knows what happened that night. He says he felt threatened by young Trayvon. He could have jumped to conclusions and assumed the boy was up to no good and approached him with the intent of protecting his community, only to have the situation escalate into a violent altercation. A simple misunderstanding could've led to a terrible accident.

It seems the media has grabbed hold of this story, like they often do, and sensationalized it. 911 calls are played over and over, slowed down to listen for potential racial slurs, video footage of Zimmerman with police are freeze framed looking for any sign of injury, order of events are moved around to paint a picture. It's easy to jump to conclusions when news anchors point out what they deem important facts.

What angers me most is the reaction of people with no affiliation to this case whatsoever. Jumping to conclusions that Zimmerman is a racist, that he disobeyed orders to stop following Trayvon, and that George killed him unprovoked. Immediately people demand an arrest, harass families in the area, threaten Zimmerman's life, it's sickening. One can say George assumed Trayvon was a "thug" and killed him because of the color of his skin, and in the same breath say Zimmerman should be killed for what he did. Are you f-ing kidding me? How hypocritical can you get?

This story is heartbreaking. Sadness likely consumes the family of Trayvon Martin, why compound that with more hatred? Obviously this is a tragedy and I am willing to bet that ultimately George Zimmerman will come out of this with regrets. It is not my place to judge him for his actions or even create an opinion when clearly all the facts are not laid out.

Before jumping to conclusions, with this situation or any situation, stop to consider if you have all the facts. And above all, ask yourself if anger and hatred is even necessary. A young boy is dead. Let us reflect on his life instead of attempting to ruin another.

My thoughts are with both families. I hope at the end of all of this, racism was not a factor, hate was not a factor, but rather a horrible misunderstanding that led to tragedy.