|
So many people die unnoticed. Matthew Shepard clearly did not, otherwise I
would not be writing this. I have spent a good amount of time looking at
various web sites looking for information on what the circumstances of this
brutal crime against humanity were. What I learned makes my soul weep. How
could this have happened? How could the cruelty to do this to a human being
exist in another? Why? I may never know the answer to those questions. I
may not want to. I also find myself wondering what Matthew was like as a
person. What did he like to do for fun? What were his dreams? What were his
ambitions for himself? I don't know why I want to know. Maybe I'm morbid.
Maybe it's because when I see pictures of him on the news, I think, "If I had
ever met him, I might have asked him out." And the more I learn about who he
was, the more his death scares me because I see I had a few things in common
with him. I read an article somewhere in which his friends said that he was
not as open about his sexuality as the media claims. He wouldn't make a big
show out of it, but he wouldn't deny it if someone asked him either. I am the
same way. He was interested in human rights issues. So am I. He actually
wasn't the type of person to pick up on guys in bars. Neither am I. If he
could be robbed, severely beaten, tied to a fence for 18 hours in freezing
weather and left for dead, so could I.
Damian MacNeil Hopper
Student, Antelope Valley College
Continue
Hear from other students
|
 |
