George Díaz: Don’t celebrate Aaron Hernandez’s death.
Aaron Hernandez killed himself. Hip-hip hooray.
It’s all the rage on social media, where people were celebrating with high-fives, party favors and memes.
“Hey Aaron whatca doin? Oh, nothing, just hanging around.”
“His attorney told him to just hang in there.”
“Life Sentence. Hang in there Aaron.”
I’m going to wipe away my tears. Not from laughing, but from crying.
Have we become a nation of insensitive dolts who celebrate suicide? I’d apologize to the insensitive dolts for hurting their feelings, but they don’t have any.
Aaron Hernandez was a despicable human being. He killed one man and was found not guilty of killing two others. His history of violence goes back to the days of the University of Florida, when he was accused of sucker-punching an employee at a Gainesville bar. Charges were never filed in the Gainesville case.
After he was convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd, Hernandez was never going to see the light of day. He was in prison for life, no parole. Maybe he took the coward’s way out by committing suicide.
Regardless, there is absolutely no reason to crank up the old Earth Wind and Fire tune “Celebrate” and have a good time.
Most people — I’ll raise my hand as well — are conflicted about the stunning information that Hernandez hanged himself in a prison cell. How are we supposed to feel?
There’s an emotional line that we tip-toe: No cheering, please. But no need to shed a tear for a man who strayed off the road to redemption years ago. He was going to rot away forevermore, which was fine by me.
Suicide is never painless. It leaves marks. Avielle Janelle Hernandez, his 4-year-old daughter, may be forever scarred by the sins of her father.
Unfortunately, she will not be alone. Each year, 44,193 people commit suicide, an average of 121 every day, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Men die by suicide 3.5 times more often than women. And it is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.
Broken people doing unspeakable things, leaving broken people in their wake. Have we lost that filter of compassion and common sense?
I am all in for cyberspace shenanigans, poking fun at the occasional missteps of prominent politicians, celebrities and athletes.
Kyrie Irving crossed that crazy divide recently, by suggesting the world may be flat. The world was not kind in return.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson won a few rounds counterpunching, telling TMZ that we should “take everybody who thinks Earth is flat and launch them into space.” They would only get to come back by admitting they were wrong.
Flat-earther joke: Funny. Suicide joke: Not funny.
Avielle Janelle Hernandez blew kisses to her dad during his last court appearance. Sadly, that was the last goodbye.
Like many of us, she will be left with questions. Was Hernandez just a bad seed from birth? Did it start to go wrong at 16, when his father died after complications from routine hernia surgery?
The only glimpse Hernandez gave us into his psyche was “John 3:16,” which was written with a red marker on his forehead. The Bible verse says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Whether heaven or hell awaits, Hernandez had been on shaky ground for quite some time. Just take a peek at this pre-NFL draft scouting report in 2010: “Self-esteem is quite low; not well-adjusted emotionally, not happy, moods unpredictable, not stable, doesn’t take much to set him off, but not an especially jumpy guy.”
Those words became prophetic on April 19, 2017.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Call that number if you are in despair, or know of someone who may be a lost soul.
It’s too late to help Aaron Hernandez. He deserves no sympathy. But he doesn’t deserve any piling on either, nor jumping for joy over his stonecold body.
@gdiaz@orlandosentinel.com; @georgediaz on Twitter