Commentsby
Bob Brandon....
My
name is Sue
Now
You're Gonna Die!! Johnny Cash made a million bucks singing about
the midadventures of a man with a bad name. In the song, Sue and
his dad enjoy a seemingly happy ending. It's a novelty song, really
not much more than a joke. Unless you really were a man named Sue,
or Carrol, Lynn, Shirley, Leslie, or Gay.
What
sort of parent would subject their child to certain ridicule by cursing
them with such an albatross of a name? Why can't they realize that
people, and children in particular love to gang up on anyone who has a
weird name? They're probably the same people who ignore fashion trends
and force their kids to dress like total geeks. That kind of stuff
leaves deep scars.
Kids
will swoop in like wolves demeaning and torturing the object of their scorn.
Everyone needs to fit in, that's why most of us take nicknames around our
friends. But if you've been marked as an outcast by the in-crowd,
you can forget it. The constant jibes, insults and general digust
from so many people can take it's toll on one's self-esteem.
Once
you lose your pride, just about anything can happen, and often does.
For Ronald Gay, growing up in Nova Scotia was mostly pleasant. But
Ron wanted to serve in the US Marines, so in 1968 he became a naturalized
citizen.
Suddenly,
the mark of his very identity, his family name, marked him as the target.
Marine boot camp became his worst nightmare. Constant hazing, intimidation
and isolation helped Gay form a negative, cynical outlook on life.
It culminated last week at the Backstreet Cafe in Roanoke, Virgina.
Gay
sought out this particular watering hole proportedly because it was a gay
bar. According to his brother, the guy was a walking timebomb since
he came back from Nam, just like in the movies, and actually like quite
a few of our men. The stress and inhumanity of war, coupled with
shoddy treatment when they returned home, and still even more apathy from
the Veteran's Administration has led many Viet vets to the brink of the
abyss.
Was
Ronald Gay just out of his mind, and completely mad? Or did this
cold blooded killer just want a few kicks? It's obvious he planned
to do it, and it's also obvious anyone named Gay has probably gotten more
than his share of shit from bullies and other lowlifes.
Now
people's lives have been forever changed. A man who was supposedly
gay, which would make sense since this was a gay bar, is now dead.
Six others, some of whom now claim they are not gay, were wounded.
I suppose if they had died, they would have been branded gay as well.
It's
a tragedy, yet not really all that surprising, is it? The movie options
are being drawn up even as we speak.we speak. After the success of The
Elian Gonzales Story, it's obvious if you put it on the screen, there are
huge numbers of mouth-breathing morons who will watch...and then name thier
kids after the stars that are the true center of the known universe.
We're
in big trouble, aren't we? |
