Fully Charged

Word jyst came through that George Zimmerman will be charged in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.

It was weird – I was thinking about this all day, probably because I had occasion yesterday to explain what happened to that teenager in Florida to my teenage daughter. Martin looks like many of her friends.

For the first time, I really started to put myself into Martin’s shoes. You go out for some soda and candy in your father’s girlfriend’s neighborhood. It’s raining so you’re anxious to go home. You put hour hood up to shield yourself a bit from the rain. Then, some guy starts following you.

The man who was following him (against police direction), George Zimmerman, reported to police that one of the things that made Martin suspicious was that it was raining and Martin was just wandering around.

For the first time, I realized, putting myself in that role: Some creepy guy is following you – do you go right to your father’s girlfriend’s house … so this creep can now know where you live … or wander around a bit to see if he will stop following you?

Only if you assume that Martin was a thug would his wandering around seem nefarious,

We don’t know what happened next – that’s why it is good that Zimmerman will have his day in court. Maybe the preceding scenario can be described to the jury and they can sort this whole thing out.