From ESPN.com:
At one point, I glanced at my program and noticed the broken man was scheduled to speak. This seemed impossible. He couldn't even keep his head up ... and he was going to say something? The moment came and the man unfurled himself from his seat, took a deep breath and staggered toward the podium. When he kicked things off by saying, "This is gonna be hard for me," his voice cracked and it seemed like that would be that. He would cry, and he'd keep crying, and then he would collapse against the podium, and four relatives would rush up there and help him back to his seat. That's how this would play out. I would have bet anything.
I was wrong.
Somehow, the man summoned the power to keep talking. Once the words started coming, he gained more and more strength, and within a few seconds, he was giving a poignant speech and attempting to place his son's life in perspective. When he finished speaking, everyone in the church -- maybe 1,200 mourners in all -- stood up and applauded him. I don't know how he did it. I will never know how he did it.
Even if you've read or heard about the tragic story of Jamiel Shaw Jr., a star RB out of Los Angeles High who was "mistakenly" shot and killed in the on-going gang/race wars on the streets of LA, I still suggest reading Bill Simmons' story on Jamiel and his father's amazingly strong eulogy. A few days ago, I watched a video clip of Jamiel's father giving the speech and I was expecting to see a man in tears barely able to speak, but instead Jamiel Sr. stood heartbroken in appearance but resilient in getting his message across. R.I.P Jamiel Shaw Jr. and God bless his family.
Thanx for the referral to Bill Simmons' story. I've blogged on this tragedy, however I hadn't seen that particular take before...
peace, Villager
Posted by: Villager | March 13, 2008 at 09:49 AM