IT'S NOT GOING TO BRING GEORGE BACK!


These words were part of a statement given by Jennifer Ormond last September when she told the press that she did not want the death penalty for the individual who had shot and killed her sleeping 2 year old son, George Irving Amison Jr. in a drive by shooting. Like all murders it was a tragic, senseless killing and the statement by the grief stricken mother indicated that this had to be a very special family, one not wanting revenge.

From the article I learned that Jennifer, although now living in Birmingham, had been born and raised in Livingston and I decided that I would like to talk to the family to thank them and to let them know how much we admired them. I felt that Jennifer's statement had to be understood in context of her family.

I wish I could do justice to this wonderful family and how moved and privileged I felt by their warm welcome and willingness to speak with me about Baby George and the grief they still feel. Little George was a special little fellow and much loved. I learned how he liked to help his grandmother, Annie L. Brown in the kitchen but knew not to touch the knives; I saw the keyboard on which he picked out notes on the keys his grandmother had lovingly labeled with letters. And yes, he already knew that G stood for George! I heard all about how he would give his grandmother directions, pointing in the right direction when asked, which way to the post office? He was a little man who had a favorite blanket and a thumb that went along with that. I learned about his funeral and his headstone and that his mother when visiting Livingston from Birmingham spends hours at his grave, cleaning it up and just keeping her baby company. I saw his mementoes, but most of all I saw the depth of the loss to this family and how well he had been loved in his all too short life.

How hard it is to forgive murder! It is difficult enough to come to terms with the death of a loved one due to illness or old age. But a death that was inflicted by another, a death that did not have to be, how to make sense and come to terms with that? Those of us who have lost a loved one to the electric chair or lethal injection also know about that. It is the senselessness, the cruel capriciousness that does us in. Victor Frankl, concentration camp survivor taught us that those who had a greater meaning in their lives survived tragedy and that those who did not, succumbed to the horror of the camps. The family of Baby George is an example of giving a positive meaning to loss and we treasure their friendship and thank them for their powerful example. We struggle to follow it knowing that hate and vengeance destroy and that love endures beyond the grave.

Esther Brown

executive director of Project Hope...

http://www.phadp.org/