Decisions…

I have to admit that I’m feeling some type of way today….

I woke up feeling fine and refreshed, ready to tackle this new day and week. However, about ten minutes after waking up my great mood was shattered by what I viewed on my cell phone. A news clip about the death of Dominique Frazier, the young lady that was stabbed at Bowie State University by her roommate, had been discovered by me on accident; but after watching it twice I realized that it had actually come to me for a purpose. As the story has been further investigated, I have learned that the altercation took place over argument about an iPod.  This is disheartening to me. It just seemed so thoughtless that the reason Dominique is no longer on this earth is because one person turned off the others iPod. Scary right. What was sadder was seeing the mother of the victim speak about how she would never see her daughter again. How she planned on celebrating with her as yesterday would have been her only daughter’s 19th birthday. So young, so full of life….Gone away because of the senseless split second decision of a fellow young woman.

I was sitting there watching and thinking a mother should never have to endure that much pain.  The tears, the cracking of the mother voice just took me back to seeing my friend’s mother’s pain when he passed away some months ago. As I laid in my bed and pondered this, I realized that the direction that we are headed as a society shows that we have many issues that have to be addressed with our decision making.  The new report this morning shared that after the young lady realized she had just stabbed her roommate in the neck with a pair of scissors, she looked at her laying there and said “I didn’t mean to do it…you all don’t know what I have been through.”  This speaks to me because we don’t know her experience.  We don’t know what has happened to her in her life that lead her to that dark place where she picked up a pair of scissors and charged at her own roommate, because she turned off her iPod.  Now there are those that will say-who cares about her, how she was feeling, what she was going through.  But I say I care and I say God cares.  While most of us would not have taken it there over something so trivial, there are those among us who have had a set of life experiences where we may be capable of a “fade to black” experience and many of us have had times where we have said and done something we shouldn’t have.  Murder is the ultimate violation of a person-you take away their essence when you take away their life.  But let me ask you have you ever said something to a person that you knew would hurt them, but you said it anyway.  Have you ever done something that you knew was wrong before you did it, but you did it anyway?  Anyone honest with themselves can likely admit that you have been guilty of not respecting another’s feelings or possessions at one time of another in your life.  I know I have….and that is what is at the heart of this tragedy.  One split second decision and two lives shattered forever.  Two families will never be the same for two have lost their daughters.  One to the death but another to the justice system and a life of torment because she is now a murderer- all because of ONE decision she made to take something from someone; all because she didn’t respect herself or her roommate enough to walk away.  One decision has changed two lives.

I wonder do people think about the outcome of every decision they make, do they really think about the ones that care about them, do they even care about themselves?  I feel like this is the exact reason that we are on this #IChooseLife path to make others aware that it’s a way to live and show respect to others.   What if a forum was held at Bowie State prior to school starting, would this have happened? What if more awareness was put out to the youth about values? What if, what if, what if is all I have been thinking all day.  More has to be done so that we can laugh and celebrate WITH our loved ones instead of mourning their departures from this life. I feel blessed and honored to be on this journey, if you haven’t already, I invite you to join me and those that stand with me.  #ChooseLife #ChooseLife #ChooseLife