City by Cycle
A blue-sky day in the city. Ted and I decided to celebrate on two wheels. We hopped on his Suzuki SV 650 and went for a scoot. Did I mention it was 50 degrees at 3 p.m.? A regular scorcher, I tell you.
This is a fun, fast bike. It isn’t built for touring, so speaking as the one who rides on back, a short day ride is about all my butt can take.
We had a couple of items on our agenda. The first was to drop a donation at the home of Suljo and Sabira Talovic, the parents of Suljeman Talovic. For several days now, news stories have listed a growing number of funds for the families of the victims of the Trolley Square shootings. But unless I missed something, I haven’t seen anything formally established for the family of the shooter.
The Talovics want to take their son’s body back to Bosnia next week for burial. We wanted to do our small part to help them do so. We rode to their home in northwest Salt Lake City, where a woman was walking away from the yard after leaving a bag of groceries. Ted asked if she was with the family. She told us no, that her daughters attend school with the Talovics’ younger children. She also said the family has left the house and is staying elsewhere for now.
Ted walked up the porch steps with our envelope and tucked it away among a heap of other donations. A mylar balloon with a giant red heart and the words “I Love You” was tied to a basket of groceries and bobbed in the wind. There were perhaps a half-dozen floral bouquets. There was a boxed set of white Corelle dishes. And a Costco-sized bottle of liquid laundry detergent.
Salt Lake City hasn’t forgotten about this family, also hurt and shattered. We were grateful to see that. This is a sign of Big Utah. The place I know to be generous in times that really test us. The place I love.
We rode off and decided to take in a late afternoon movie. We saw “Pan’s Labrynth.” We may be the last people on Earth to have seen it. If I’m wrong about that, and you haven’t seen it, go. It’s stellar.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
“Salt Lake City hasn’t forgotten about this family, also hurt and shattered.”
This is a great story — thank you for sharing it.
February 18th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Class act…worthy of humanism at the highest level (Erasmus).
As for “Pan`s Labrynth”, surreal. “Life is but a dream,a little more coherent than most”
February 18th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Thank you, for a message I needed to hear and which was so beautifully written. I loved the weather today; I had various tragedies on my mind as I walked to church. Still, being in church depressed me as usual. Then I read your piece and was reminded what a good place I live in - here in Salt Lake City, even though I would prefer to be in Southeastern Utah. To live in a place where families are remembered with love, outside of placing blame or judgment, that is what moral living is about. Above and beyond religion.
February 19th, 2007 at 1:30 pm
First of all, Holly, you and Ted are good people. Intensely good, sensitive and caring people.
This situation reminds me of when my 26-year old cousin was raped and murdered in 1974 in Provo, Utah. She was killed by a man who she knew from high school. She and her husband had befriended this man, trying to help him rebuild his life. He was in prison for arson. One night, he did not return after a work detail. Instead he waited until her husband left for his graveyard shift at Geneva Steel. Then he went to her home. She let him in, knowing him, she felt she could talk to him and convince him to do the right thing of going back to the prison. He killed her while her two small babies slept in the next room. My cousin and I were close - like sisters. Our family has never quite recovered from this terrible tragedy.
Yet, the more important lesson was learned when a well-meaning individual told my aunt (the mother of my cousin who died) that she would pray for her; because after all, she was the mother and feeling much pain. My aunt paused, looked out the window and simply stated, “Thank you. Pray for his mother. She is feeling much more pain, I’m sure.”