"Funeral For Shanyia Davis." www.wral.com. 2012. Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. 12 Nov. 2012. .

essay

On Friday Oct.13^th, 2006 I lost a very special person. That person was: my brother, my best friend, and the only I could truly ever look up to. Who would have known that the only we could have been separated would have been by a bullet?  To say that the bullet took his life and no one else’s is an understatement. Put yourself in my shoes for a minute, I was the only person at my brother’s funeral who did not shed a single tear or weep a single sound.  Why?  I felt like it was not okay to show any emotion so by me purporting, people would not want to ask me if I was okay or how was I doing. Believe it or not I did not want anyone to offer me their condolences because I knew that nobody could truly understand the pain I was feeling; I felt numb, I felt weak, I became  cold-hearted, and I felt like the void that had been placed in my heart would never be filled.

There was a point when I realized that I had not dealt with my brother’s absence. I can truly say I will never forget the day I had my very first emotional breakdown. I felt like his absence was because of me, If I could have done something to help I would have, or maybe if I would have called him , if there was anything to slow the time down I would have done it . Just because I was not able to help him I began to fault myself for his death. I know it sounds crazy but I failed to realize that things happen, and most importantly I had nothing to do with pulling the trigger. On July13tth, 2010, I lost it the only thing that could have been found within me was the horrific wails paralyzing my vocal cords, and the mini tsunamis flooding my eyelids. So I guess after four years of built up emotions my body could not handle anymore. With that being said, “There should be harsher punishments for those who commit murder.” 

During my research, I found that judicial justice does not always lead to psychological or mental justice. If someone harmed you, no matter if it was physical abuse, custody battles, infidelity, or spiritual etc. then the person who inflicted such things upon you would have to pay money known as restitution to show their guilt or acknowledge your pain. Try not to let the wool cover your eyes, because restitution want solve everything. It does not matter who you are. If you have, been hurt; then you are entitled to feel hurt.

My objective was to pinpoint families of the victims of murder under the age of 18. People often have the tendency to not understand things, so they wonder, “What did I do?” For an example: it is not always the children it is the parents. If children feel as if they are not loved or cherished then when they are old enough to have children of their own they will not be able to love and cherish their children properly because it was something their parents lacked. Which will make them wonder where they fail as a parent? If they confront the issues at hand then this could have all been avoided.  So again not reconciling can lead to more issues.

            During My research, I was able to answer my essential question “Was it worth it?” The answer made perfectly logical sense such as, “Reconciliation is to face up to the problem” claimed Ralp F. Raneri. He also claims the first step is to admit you have a problem. He says that if people apologize or forgive it will help them reconcile better. Although if you do not at least attempt to reconcile. Than you have done nothing to help resolve your conflict. Therefore, you have wasted time trying to make it better causing all your effort to become worthless.

            Even with all the craziness around, you still have asked yourself “Is justice ever served when murder is involved?”  Most of the time seeing someone being sentence to time in prison seems like justice is serve when in reality it is truly not. We tend to forget about the emotional wounds that are left open and overlooked. If you cannot reconcile then the wounds will never heal. Although if you can find it in your heart to forgive someone who has hurt you than you have opened the door for justice to be served.