This is a bit of rant that is tangentially related to sports, so please excuse me. I read this story about a young high schooler in Los Angeles that was shot to death apparently by gang members. He was asked if he was in a gang and before he could answer he was shot and killed. No rhyme or reason, just killed.

This was a kid who had a bright future, was a good athlete, had good parents, and had his whole future before him. It’s sad on many levels but most of all because it seems to be a trend, random young people killed with so much ahead of them. The fact that this kid was from an inner city and was a year or two away from “getting out” is heart breaking.

“The father and son years ago had made a pact: Keep focused, stay away from drugs and gangs, and get into college on an athletic scholarship. In return, the dad promised to do everything for his son, nicknamed “Jas,” to make that happen.”

I’m tired of seeing this stuff in the news. I’m tired of kids who are trying to do something with their lives being killed for no reason. I was never one for gun control, I’ve always believed that what makes this nation great is our ability to be free and our ability to act and think for ourselves. But when people, young people, start getting mowed down, we as humans, and as a collective citizenry have to ask ourselves the hard questions. We have to ask ourselves what kind of world we want to live in.

I was adopted by a wonderful family, so I know how great a second opportunity at life can be. Had I not been adopted I am not sure what would have happened but I wouldn’t be where I am today. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go to school and get a job and have a wonderful wife and son. So why, why, should a young person trying to get a second chance at life be mowed down before he can to do something with that chance?

Parents need to teach their kids the value of life, and if they can’t then the community needs to. We need to start looking out for one another, start holding each other accountable. We will never have a perfect world, I get that, but we need to put an emphasis on human life and the human spirit. If it means taking away the guns or making it harder fine, let’s start there, but let’s not end there. Let’s become involved and say that this isn’t OK, that we don’t accept this, and that this young boy and every other young child didn’t and doesn’t deserve this.

“More than 7,500 miles away, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw was serving her second tour in Iraq. Her commanding officer called her into his office and told her to sit down next to the chaplain. He then informed her that her son had been killed on the streets of Los Angeles.

“I freaked out,” she said. “I wanted to run out of the room. I was screaming and kicking. I was shouting, ‘No.’”

Anita Shaw is now back in Los Angeles to bury her son.”