CARLOS R.I.P

This song is not only very memorable for me, but also my 12 year old son.  We lived on 13th Street in San Pedro, a street corrupted by gangs and violence.  My son had a friend named Carlos (still does) who he played with every single day either at his house or ours.

One night I let him go spend the night at his house, a few houses down from us. I woke to the sound of gunfire at about 10:30pm and his grandmother screaming for me.  I came running out only to see everyone standing in their yard and my son sitting on the steps with Carlos crying. I went running down their to find Carlos's dad, Carlos Sr.  lying on the ground, he had been shot to death right there in the front yard. The boys saw it happen, but never saw who did it, or even understood why.

The grandmother asked me to do CPR but it was just too late for him, he was gone.  My son and Carlos had seen the whole thing and were in serious shock. I carried my son home and sat in the dark room with him just trying to get the images out of our head.

My son felt terrible for his friend, was afraid for himself and just really had nowhere to turn for comfort.  He and I both quickly became attached to this song, "Where Is The Love" from Black Eyed peas. It was so perfect and appropriate for how we felt about the whole tragic incident.

Later the song became a "Life Theme Song" for Carlos and DJ (my son). Not a minute goes by that they don't think of that night, but somehow this song brings us all comfort.