Trayvon Martin, Meets George Zimmerman

By Michael H. Gora

Two young Florida men were out for a stroll one evening last year in a small Florida town called Sanford, best known for a fine zoo.

As they passed one another in the evening glooming George was drinking one of his six pack of Coca Cola and Trayvon was snacking on Skittles. The exchanged, “heys.”

George, who had never seen a Skittle, asked Trayvon if he wouldn’t mind sharing a piece. Trayvon, the most accommodating among his generation said, “sure”, and tore open the pack.  George, just as generous, handed Trayvon a cold Coke.

They sat on a neighborhood bench as the sky darkened, just snacking.  Suddenly it was dark.  As if twins, they looked up to the sky and spotted a shooting star plunging into the horizon. “wow,” they said.

“I’ll have to tell my momma about that” said the young black man.  “My brother too”, said George, simultaneously rising from their bench.  Neither man was the kind who gave others a “man-hug”, but they did, perhaps because of their sharing snacks and shooting stars.

“Se ya’s were exchanged,” as the young men separated and went on their ways in opposite directions.

As avid readers of science fiction will tell you the device of a parallel universe comes up time and time again.  There are millions of ways that the meeting between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin could have turned out.

It was their mutual misfortune which turned what could have been a pleasant evening into a nightmare.  The trial is over, those dice played.  Criminal trials are rarely perfect in the representation of what really happened or result.  None of us will really ever know what happened or why, not even George.

But there are lessons to be learned.  Black, white, brown, red or yellow we are all earthlings who share this lovely planet under the shooting stars with our brothers and sisters.  Don’t waste your precious hours and minutes hating one another because of your racial or religious differences or differences in sexual preferences. Relish each other in our diversity.  Give me a hug and I will do the same.

Michael H. Gora has been certified by the Board of Specialization of The Florida Bar as a specialist in family and matrimonial law, and is a partner with Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. in Boca Raton.  Mr. Gora may be reached by e-mail at mhgora@sbwlawfirm.com.