*Please note: while I cannot prove what actually happened in the confrontation between Martin and Zimmerman, and we do not have a definitive legal ruling as to what happened, upon hearing of this tragedy I feel something else was at work. The pundits have analyzed this confrontation as one that was based in racism. There are experts who also say this incident shows the inherent problems in our police forces and the problem in a society that allows citizens to carry guns. This does not ring true to me. So I present the column below. It seems to me something else might have been at work. Below is an alternative explainer to the traditional view that it was racism. The thoughts come from my time as a high school teacher at Albuquerque High and three years as a swimming pool manager. I also taught a form of karate and was a young bold man myself. I only have a few scars from then. I believe this bold young men syndrome to be at work every day, but it is hard to get young men to say exactly what was on their minds when they marched into a needless conflict.
Michael Swickard
Rest in peace, Trayvon. It was not racial; it was just a bold young men moment, a tragedy. This is neither the first nor the last time young men will die needlessly.
“Don’t be a show-off. Never be too proud to turn back. There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots.” – E. Hamilton Lee
The national media has not presented the real reason for the tragic shooting in Florida. Politician Rahm Emanuel observed, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” Some people bring a race agenda to every discussion. Others want to complain about bad police work. Some shoot their mouths off about gun control.
Know this: The shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman had absolutely nothing to do with race nor police work or gun control. The shooting was caused entirely by the bold young men syndrome.
Every day there are plenty of news stories about fist, knife and gun fights among bold young men that end in tragedy. These deaths are caused by the inability of young men to step back from a confrontation. They charge head first into the confrontations as if honor were more important than life itself. To them maybe it is.
Viewing the shooting in Florida through the lens of bold young men, it is easy to see how this situation happened. But bold young men theory is of no use politically, since from the beginning of time young men have been bold and reckless, leading to needless deaths.
Long after the television lights of this story have gone somewhere else we have the ability to learn something from this needless death. There are three issues: first, one step back and there would have been no story. Secondly, this is much more about the demons inside these two young men than about societal demons. Finally, sadly, the next generation of young men will be just as bold and reckless. They also will die needlessly.
I remember those days for myself when it was unlikely that I would have stepped back. Today, I have a different perspective. But when I was young, I was 10 feet tall and bulletproof, as the saying goes. I got into some confrontations that luckily had no lasting effect. I understand the emotion of the moment and the cost of that emotion.
While some in our society might like to play the blame game, having young men ready to sell their lives for honor is not the fault of programs on television or what is seen in the movies. That young man behavior was just as prevalent a hundred years ago as today. Young men then and now die needlessly.
Tragedy stalks
One night in a small country bar I was irritated by an interloper to my good times, so I reached way back and punched this guy right in the horns as hard as I could. His head went back a ways and then he said to me, “You know it sometimes makes me mad when someone hits me.”
I had not knocked him down and certainly not out. The pain traveled up my arm and I blurted, “My God, if I didn’t hurt you, I’m sorry I hit you.” He chuckled as I dashed full speed through the bar’s screen door. At the coffee shop the next day, the regulars kidded me about the cross-hatch pattern on my face from that screen door that I ran through rather than take the time to open. I said, “At least I still have a face, that guy was King Kong.”
I am thankful I made it through the young bold stage without lasting consequences. I wish we, as a society, could find a way to pull back the testosterone-fueled, young bold men. Before anyone thinks the way to deal with this is to pass more laws, that is emotion, not thinking. The same emotion that Alfred, Lord Tennyson captured, “…theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of death rode the six hundred.”
Tragedy stalks the bold young men.
Rest in peace, Trayvon. It was not racial; it was just a bold young men moment, a tragedy. This is neither the first nor the last time young men will die needlessly.
Swickard is co-host of the radio talk show News New Mexico, which airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday on a number of New Mexico radio stations and through streaming. His e-mail address is michael@swickard.com.