Playing The Game of Pain By Ron Downing

This is a poem about a old relationship I had. I was inspired to write it after listening to an old Garth Brooks song.

In 1982 I was learning to fly through skies of blue.

I met you, in the Golden Arches drive through.

Your brown eyes caused my heart to skip a beat or two.

My throat became parched leaving me speechless before you

.

broken hearts are this lady’s game no two games are ever the same

Boys who laid eyes on her should feel no shame for losing her game.

She sends all her boyfriends down in flames

In 1982 I thought that we were tighter than glue.

After just a few dates. I fell in-love with you.

My love for you, was honest and true.

As summer flew past I knew I had to spend my life with you.

Broken hearts are this lady’s game no two games are ever the same

Boys who laid eyes on her should feel no shame for losing her game.

She sends all her boyfriends down in flames

In 1982 like a fool on bended knee i proposed to you.

Without a clue that you would break my heart in two.

I could not help, but feel blue without you.

I was in pain, that too was part of her game

I could not claim, she should take all the blame

I knew it to be true, If I played her games I would go down in flames 

Broken hearted over you I headed to the VFW for a brew.

All I could talk about was you. My friends said I had a loose screw.

After a few brews, I was sure I knew Kung-fu got in a fight to forget you

I no longer play her games that left me in pain and feeling Shame

Her game is now like a dying flame though she tries just the same

By 1992 I rarely thought of you

I heard you were married to Drew, Husband number two.

Your heart was broken in two, when you discovered he cheated on you.

This was not cool so you too cheated with his cousin and the bartender too

you play the game though its not the same.

Now you feel the shame as you go down in flames

Your classy champagne no-longer covers your pain.

In 2002 I caught a view of you and chose not to pursue.

I could see you had another fool with you.

Watching you I knew, father time had not been good to you.

For whatever reason, I felt blue for you,

Yet glad that you broke my heart in two back in 1982

The Loud Music Murder Mistrial

By Friday evening the jurors involved in the Michael Dunn, loud music murder trial had been in deliberation two days. During the deliberation, Jurors asked Judge Russell Healey, questions in regards to the verdict. Judge Healey informed them that if the jury could not come to a unanimous agreement on some of the charges that it would result in a hung jury, on the charges that they could not agree on unanimously. This left little doubt that Michael Dunn might be found guilty on some of the other charges. This means that Michael Dunn would still face imprisonment. The prosecution in this case pushed for first degree murder. This decision left many of the well-known legal critics to criticize the prosecutors. Because, first-degree murder would mean that Michael Dunn knew Jordan Davis, had an argument with Jordan Davis and then planned out how he could kill him. This, by any stretch of imagination was not the Case. This incident happened within a 10 minute time span. It was rather spontaneous there was no premeditation to kill Jordan Davis.

Character witnesses testified, to what a great guy, Michael Dunn his calm demeanor, level headed he is. Does not really matter Michael Dunn's own testimony was fairly weak from the beginning. He stuck to his story that he thought that Jordan Davis had a gun, not just any gun, but what looked us like a shotgun. When he was asked, why he continued shooting at the SUV as it was leaving.

His response was, "I was afraid they were going to turnaround; come back to kill me." (Maybe not his exact words but reasonably close). I'm not sure about you, but I'm thinking really Michael, with the gun they didn't even have. By that point they were probably terrified and just wanted to get out of there. He also testified that he called the police the following morning after he heard that Jordan Davis had been killed. Then his fiancée took the stand and weakened his testimony even more. She testified that Michael Dunn never made a call to the police. She also mentioned that it was her idea to get out of there, before the police arrived. Because she was afraid that she would be arrested. She also testified that when she got back in the car, Mr. Dunn made no mention of any type of weapon or any stick that they were going to kill him with. She also made mention of a derogatory statement that Michael Dunn had made when they parked next to the red Dodge Durango, that Jordan Davis was occupying.

Now today at 4:40 PM In Florida the jury had a verdict of guilty on four of the five charges. The jury was hung on the first-degree murder charge. At that time Judge Healey declared a mistrial on that charge. This tells all of us that not even the jury believed it was premeditated. I dare to say that had the prosecutors ask for a lesser charge that it would have been slam-dunk, over and done with. Michael Dunn would have been found guilty, and the family of Jordan Davis would have felt that justice was served. Now that the first-degree murder trial, has been declared a mistrial. The family and friends of Jordan Davis will get to relive this tragedy once again. Not that I am too worried about Michael Dunn, I would imagine he is furious with this. All the legal fees he is paying, has surely caused a lot of financial stress. In addition to that, the emotional stress that he must be feeling now.

Mr. Dunn killed a teenage boy over loud music, and would like for all of us to believe it was self-defense. And I don't doubt that there might have been a few hostile words exchanged between Mr. Dunn and Jordan Davis. After all we were all teenagers at one time, and even a little cocky when it came to adults; that did not approve of the things we did back then. The jury may have or have not, believed his story of self defense. One thing is certain though, they were not persuaded by the prosecutions attempt to prosecute Michael Dunn on the first-degree murder charge.

Tomorrow, February 16, 2014 Jordan Davis would have been 19 years old. His parents were hoping that they would have a verdict before his birthday. So they could celebrate his life; that justice was served for taking his life. That is not going to happen though since it was declared a mistrial. Michael Dunn probably is a nice guy, like his friends have testified. However, on that night in November 2012 Mr. Dunn let his anger get the best of him and took the life of the teenage boy. And who knows what would have become of Jordan Davis had he lived.

I think we can all agree that no matter how much time Michael Dunn serves in prison it will not bring Jordan Davis back to life. And being found guilty on a lesser charge will be of little comfort to the Davis family. It is plain and simple that this was murder and Jordan Davis didn't stand a chance once the shooting began. And even though I don't agree with Michael Dunn's actions, I have to say that Jordan Davis also made a very bad decision that night. He had the opportunity to just say okay no problem will turn it down. However he decided to make issue of it, which led to his own death. As we all know it was not the gun that killed Jordan Davis, it was the man behind the gun. It is sad but true that there are some hot headed people in this world who let little things get to them. Then they snap, which results in a tragedy such as this. I am also the parent of a teenager, and I would be devastated if anything happened to my daughter or son. So I say to all the teenagers in the world, who may be reading this. I urge you to be cautious and to be considerate. You never know who you might be dealing with. Loud music and those other things that adults don't care for, is never worth getting yourself killed.