Irony and Sadness

Yesterday on my way to work, I heard three incredibly ironic news bits on NPR.

I tried so hard to remember them all as I sped to work. I planned to twit them out over the course of the day but I got too damn busy…

I remembered two of them though… Here they are in their untwittered length:

Today New Orleans Mayor, Ray Nagin, held a bell-ringing ceremony in remembrance of the moment that the levies broke two years ago during Hurricane Katrina. At the same moment the bells began to toll, President Bush was holding a moment of silence in New Orleans in remembrance of the moment that the levies broke two years ago during Hurricane Katrina… Yep. The irony of miscommunication between the state and Federal Government was not lost on me.

Number two:

A performance artist was arrested at “The Burning Man” festival for setting said man alight four days before he was scheduled to be burnt. The whole spirit of the festival is “radical self-expression.”… Yup. The irony of this situation was not lost on me either. ;-)

Then, this morning, I heard that Richard Jewell died at age 44. The news caught me at a vulnerable moment (it was shortly after I woke up) and it made me burst into tears.

For some reason, all I could feel was this sense of the tragic irony that publicly surrounded this poor man’s life. All he ever wanted to do was be a hero. He worked in Security. He was portrayed as someone who “had made a failed attempt at a career in Law Enforcement” but all this man really was; was someone who wanted to help protect people.

He did just that.

Even today though, he was referred to “former Olympic Park Bombing suspect” and not “former Hero in the Olympic Park Bombing.”

He went through hell for saving those people and his life was probably ruined because of it… and the ~only~ person who stuck by him through thick and thin was his Mom.
His quote:

"For that two days, my mother had a great deal of pride in me — that I had done something good and that she was my mother, and that was taken away from her," Jewell said. "She'll never get that back, and there's no way I can give that back to her."

Damn… I don’t know why this one makes me so sad. I mean, screws fall out. The world’s an imperfect place! But something about this guy’s story just strikes me as so tragically unfair.

I need a hug. =(

R.I.P. Richard... May the next life be better for you.