A Lesson Learned from the George Zimmerman Trial

The verdict is in.  George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder in the death of Trayvon Martin by a jury of his peers .  That is the way our justice system is designed to work.  Unfortunately, the repercussions of the verdict continue to resound throughout our land.  My mind flashes back to the turbulent 60's and the racial tensions that divided our land.  I don't know what happened that night.  All I know is that one teenager is dead and another man has lost his freedom even though he was found not guilty.

There is one aspect of this whole situation that troubles me.  I also believe it provides us with an important lesson.  The issue has nothing to do with racial profiling or gun rights.  It does have to do with learning to listen when we are told not to do something.  Let me put this into context by quoting a portion of the 911 transcript from that night;

Dispatcher: "Are you following him?

George: "Yeah."

Dispatcher: "We don't need you to do that."

George: "Okay."

George Zimmerman said, "Okay." and then did exactly the opposite.  He got out of his car and followed Trayvon even though instructed not to.  I can understand his reaction.  He had reported suspicious individuals before, only to have them drift off into oblivion before the police arrived.  And yes, there continued to be crime in his neighborhood.  The reality is, he was told "don't" and he still did.  This is the lesson we all need to learn.  We tend to focus on teenagers and young adults.   We tell them not to experiment with drugs, and they still do.  We warn them about the dangers of getting in the car with someone who is driving under the influence and they still do.  We talk to them about being honest and always telling the truth, but they still lie to our faces.  It goes on and on.  "We don't need you to do that."  They respond, "Yeah," and then do it anyway.

Where do they learn this pattern?  We are told not to text and drive, and we do it anyway.  We are warned about dangers of obesity, but do nothing to change our eating habits.  Unfortunately it often takes a tragedy to force us to make the lifestyle change.  This regrettable event cost a young man his life and I would only hope that we would all learn the lesson, "No means No."  That is a reality that we need to be passing on to the next generation and once again the best way to teach is to model ourselves.