JAWing On – Life on Okinawa

A little after12 a.m. this morning, the world lost one of its truly gifted guitarists. Even though most people know there was a great amount of disharmony in my relationship with the guitarist, it is always sad to see someone take the destructive path he chose. This is especially true of someone as talented as the Okinawan guitarist Jimmy Ginoza was. For many of us it was all too soon to loose him, especially so suddenly. Yet, he was a tortured soul and there is solace to be taken in that is he is no longer suffering.

As hard the sudden death was, even more difficult was the total disregard a few of the men showed for the situation. We found out about the loss in the middle of the third set. I tried explaining what had happened to several of the men who were at the club to have a good time and forget about their own problems. (And mothers of the world if you ever wonder what type of child you have raised, this is one of those times a person’s reactions to a situation truly discloses the inner fabric of that person.) To my dismay, these men totally ignored the hurt and suffering the friends and fans of the deceased felt by the loss. Instead these men chose to try and cause commotion and confrontations because they were not the focus of attention. Even though the current world situation puts some limitations on human emotions, it IS a sad day when human beings cannot feel a sense of loss for the passing away of another human being, especially when that person was not an adversary.