It.

I never really knew how cold and dimension-less the word "it" was until I read the press release on Angie Zapata's murderer being charged. Usually I am full of words, and the normal ones do float to the surface like "shocking" and "horrible" and "nauseating". But beyond the words are feelings that simply can't be captured.

There isn't a lot of room in our language for people who are different. Utah Philips tells the story of his daughter complaining that he wasn't normal and his friend correcting her, "He is normal, what you mean is average." Mainstream living is often the lowest common denominator. A safe way for people to move through life. The sign posts are up, the path is marked, the goal is clear.

Angie's desire to walk differently should never have resulted in so tragic a situation. There is no possibility of justice, whatever punishment is meted out, Angie will be dead. Our community will have lost one more member. All we can do is mourn and work to prevent this from happening again, to someone else.