Wednesday, November 30, 2005

RIP

Tonight I said goodbye for the final time to a guy I grew up with. Early Thanksgiving morning he was stabbed twice in the back while walking away from a bar. He had gone there to pick up his fiance as she was getting off of work and exited the building to wait for her outside. He never saw them coming. 2 men exited the bar and attacked him, murdered him. His fiance found him as she went outside. The 2 suspects, no murderers have since been apprehended and it's probably a good thing the cops got to them before the old neighborhood crowd did.

I teared up as I knelt down by his coffin. To me he was just another one of the neighborhood guys. Busting his ass day in and day out to escape the poverty and drugs that had come to plague the neighborhood streets we once called home. As I knelt there it was a surreal moment. It was when I looked up and saw the note from his children. It created a lump in my throat like I've never had before. I read the note but I honestly couldn't tell you what it said. It was raw emotion and something I had never experienced before and hopefully something I won't have to again.

I don't miss the old neighborhood. It's a ghetto of the worst sort now. But I realized tonight that I do sometimes miss the people. Most of them were never able to escape, trapped inside of their homes by fear of a stray bullet striking them. Drugs and sex are sold openly on every street corner and garages become brothels and crack houses. Products of their enviroment they struggle on the only way they no how these days and sadly that leads them into shady territory. Unfortunately while no one spoke of it tonight I believe that was exactly what happened that Thanksgiving morning.

I sold my house in the neighborhood 5 years ago and haven't looked back. I considered myself lucky and put behind me the grim fear of living in the neighborhood. Tonight I shook the hands of many that are still living there. All aged before their years the area had sucked whatever lust for life they possessed. Many of them felt like shells of the people I once bumped into on the streets. On the streets when they were safe.

17 comments:

Blondie... said...

I'm so sorry for your loss.

*kisses*
R

kimmyk said...

sorry to hear about your friend.

Brandon Cackowski-Schnell said...

Sorry man, that's some rough stuff.

Danielle said...

I am so sorry for your loss. So sorry, I have lost a person to being stabbed and street violence like that.

Is that picture of bridge and pratt or Kensington?

k o w said...

That's Bridge and Pratt before the tore it all down. Good eyes.

I grew up in Frankford. What a shit hole now.

Danielle said...

K O W

Man Frankford is crazy these days. Look I am 29 and even inthe last couple years it went down the tube. That place is scary any more.

k o w said...

I'm 28 and can remember the days when I could walk down Frankford Avenue without a worry.

Now just driving down there last night made me realize how terrible drugs and crime are to a community. Don't get me wrong, there's alot of good going on down there, it's just not stopping the bleeding.

Sky said...

Oh sweetie, I am so sorry. That is horrible for everyone involved. It is such a shame what society has become over the last several years.

Danielle said...

K O W

Yea I hear ya. My boss is from Frankford and a few days ago we were talken abouth ow that place changed.

Networkchic said...

It's hard to say goodbye to someone, even harder to say so long when they are ripped from this world so prematurely. This world is full of people trying to escape, some of them live in fancy houses, some in the projects. It's all geography, life can suck no matter which street you live on.

ladylongfellow said...

Wow...lots of philly people read this blog! That's the L..yep! Not a good neighborhood. Olney used to be nice, I just sold a property there...OH MY! I still have family that lives in the northeast and that isn't as bad. Lawndale isn't as nice as it used to be though. It's just a shame, really.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend.

WDKY said...

I'm so sorry about your friend, KOW. Life can really, really suck sometimes.

WDKY said...

One of the thimgs I like about you, by the way, is that - even though you have a kind of macho thing going on - you don't mind expressing your emotion when it's appropriate to do so. A lot of guys can't, or won't, do that.

k o w said...

Thanks wdky. I appreciate that.

MG said...

:( there are never words to express the sadness others feel when reading posts like this, just know you are thought of and thanks for sharing...

Caterpillar said...

I'm so sorry for you as well as for all your old friends. That was a really touching post.

Tevin said...

I'm sorry for your loss bro. I can't even imagine losing someone who is a close friend. Truly tragic.