ON THE MARK.

OSCAR, OSCAR, OSCAR!

Not since OJ has a sports icon and hero to millions gone down in flames so quickly.  Prior to yesterday's news that he had allegedly shot his girlfriend four times, Oscar Pistorius was a inspiration to disabled and able-bodied people worldwide.    But what did we REALLY know about the man they called "Blade Runner"?  Did we want to dig deep into this man's past?  Did we really go looking for skeletons in his closet?   Hardly.    We accepted Oscar as an intelligent, passionate, dedicated man who overcame amputation of both legs below the knees to become the greatest paralympic runner of all time.   He even competed against able bodied runners at the Olympics and carried the South African flag. 
     But that's all we WANTED to know.   Some things are better left unsaid.   He crashed his boat a few years ago, and had been involved in a few domestic disputes, but that didn't signal him as a potential murderer, and certainly didn't raise any red flags to those who chose to cover him in the media.  He enjoyed guns and owned several of them including a 9mm pistol he kept by his bedside.   Was that a reason to suspect he might someday shoot someone and kill them?   After all, South Africa has more gun-related murders than any other country on the planet except for Colombia, so maybe it's an accepted part of the culture.   So Oscar has guns, so what?   It's not like he's going to murder someone.
      Come on folks.   People are complicated.    We don't know why they do things, and we certainly can't delve into the psyche of every "sports hero" who did something that we think was totally out of character.   We can speculate all we want, but we'll never know.    Not that any excuse can be made for shooting someone four times.   It can't.   But it's even more difficult to rationalize when that person is plastered all over billboards, TV and magazine covers in South Africa.    He is, or was, a National hero in that country.    Journalists who covered him spoke glowingly of his consideration of others and his willingness, even in defeat, to conduct interviews and ensure that every journalist got their story and every photographer got the picture they wanted.  He was  cooperative, respectful and a pleasure to cover, according to many.   And that's why it's such a shock.   Your faith in human nature is shaken to the core.   This man didn't cheat by taking illegal drugs.   He didn't lie or try to cover up his transgressions of the past.   This guy (allegedly) murdered his girlfriend.   He shot her (allegedly) four times.    He says he thought she was an intruder, although neighbours say they heard screaming and shouting eminating from the home earlier in the night in question.
       Many, many athletes, entertainers, politicians and other powerful people have proven, sadly, to be just as human as the rest of us.    Murder happens every day, yet we accept it as part of everyday life.   That is, until, a famous person commits the act.   But please, don't lump Pistorius with Lance Armstrong or Manti T'eo or Joe Paterno.   Sure, they're reputations took a hit, but none of them pointed a gun at a loved one and fired it.    OJ Simpson went before a jury in 1995 and was acquitted of charges he murdered his ex-wife and her friend.    In South Africa, there are no juries.   That means Pistorius's fate rests in the hands of the judge, who, like many South Africans, is torn by the series of events that has rocked his homeland.