So there have been a lot of ridiculous headlines in the news lately. These include, but are not limited to: an alligator being pulled out of the Gulf of Mexico, this bathroom bill (which just sounds like a creepy guy who sits in the bathroom) and Donald Trump being the only candidate left for the Republican Party... thanks Ted Cruz. Wild news stories don’t really phase me anymore, well until I saw the headline about George Zimmerman selling the gun that killed Trayvon Martin.
I would like to pause here for a moment. I know that this topic is pretty much the center of all controversy right now. Hell, it pretty much added the right amount of gas to the fire to send the “Black Lives Matter” movement into overdrive back in 2012. Which is why this is going to sound bad, so before you jump down to the comments sections and brutally roast me, I want you to promise to stay with me until the end.
When Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013, he became easily the most hated man in America, a title that I do believed he earned. However, the treatment that he received afterwards was not something that should have happened. For nearly a year afterwards he could not hold down a job, which in turns means he could not support himself. This man followed the self-fulfilling prophecy we all have in front of us and became the monster we made him out to be, and then some.
Do I believe that Zimmerman was in actual fear of his life? No. I’m sorry but teenagers aren’t that scary looking, and if you really are scared, you don’t follow the person you are scared of... Unless you are the star of a horror movie. Do I think that this whole thing could have gone down differently? Yes. There are a multitude of other ways to take down a person if you are scared, like shooting the knee cap. It is pretty hard to cause someone else harm when you can’t move. However, the American public and media are just as much to blame for making this man ‘famous’ as is the crime that he committed.
Before deciding to bring the spotlight back onto himself and re-open the wounds of the Martin family, he was selling paintings on eBay, one of which sold for the price of an AA degree at Stetson University. Now, looking at the painting it is pretty nice, but not something worth that much. The only reason he received a bid that high is simply because of the name that comes with it. I know countless high school freshmen who could do what Zimmerman painted, but if they tried to sell it they would probably lose money.
Zimmerman is still in need of money, though, since he is still a long ways away from the 2.5 million dollars he owes to his legal team from the Martin case. That number has probably grown since the other crimes that have been added to his rap sheet. The only other thing the man somehow still has after being homeless and poor for the past four years is the gun that was used that night.
The insanity of this is beyond compare. Literally this man has clearly lost his mind, but so have we. Somebody out there bought this gun for $250,000. Who bought the gun? Is this person sane enough to even have a gun? I am going to say clearly not if they put down enough money to put me through my master’s. But is the better option here to let Zimmerman keep the gun? No, clearly not because he already proved that what scares him and what should scare him are two completely different things. But if we took his gun away without him actually being convicted of something, I would be the first person to say how equally wrong that is. We are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and until our gun laws reach this century we will be here for a while.
However, while we have all been arguing about the insanity and morality of this, have any of us thought about Trayvon’s family? I would be willing to bet that in the debates people have been having at work or at the bar they have only mentioned his family for mere moments; that the only time his family comes into play is a quick sentence about how sad this must be for them. Nothing expanded upon, not even another thought, just a nodded and quick ‘yeah’ only to continue the conversation about how terrible of a man Zimmerman is.
The reason why this is so sad for Trayvon’s family is because people are still talking about it. Zimmerman is a sick man, he really does need some mental help to figure out how to get his life back on track. Because, right now, we are a couple years away from him either killing himself or going on a rampage. While most think that first option is fantastic, and that we would be a better place without him in world, we have to take a step back and realize just how terrible we sound. We cannot say that the world would be better without someone living in it, and then get mad when the younger generation do the same thing.
Rather than giving this man anymore reason to hate the American public, and himself, and to stop him from gaining more fame and causing more harm to those who are already hurting, I vote that we leave the man alone. Stop buying his paintings, don't use his horrible gun, or anything thing else this man decides to do or sell. Instead, if you have that type of money, put someone through school, or create a scholarship in Trayvon’s name. Better yet, give the money to his parents, who have been through Hell and back more than once in the past five years.
Rather than treat Zimmerman as a monster, treat him an individual. He is not worth $200,000, but he is worth a job and the mental help he clearly needs. We cannot expect this man to go back to who he was before, or even get close to who he was before, if everything around him tells him he terrible. The same goes for the Martin family, we can not expect them to heal if they are reminded of their loss every time this man does something.
For this case to finally rest and to stop causing more damage to Trayvon’s family, it is up to American people to stop giving this man more fame. Treat him as some random guy named George rather than George Zimmerman, the man that got away with murder and who has been on a downward spiral ever since. I hope that since the last piece of this crime has been dealt with, I never have to see the name Zimmerman in a headline again. By doing this, you are not forgetting Trayvon, and how his life was cut short. Instead, you are letting his memory live on how his family would like to remember him, rather than as a victim.
