Like seemingly everyone else that summer and fall of 1995, I was captivated by the trial of OJ Simpson for the murder of his estranged wife and her friend. The many months long courtroom spectacle, followed by the thunderbolt verdict threw me, and many others, for a total loop.
In my memory, now nearly a quarter of the way through the 21st century, that drama was probably the last significant tale in the long saga that was the 20th century.
And with the news that's just come out today that OJ Simpson has died, for me the final chapter of that century has closed.
This all may sound a bit melodramatic. In this century, tragedies similar to this OJ fiasco seem to be a dime a dozen now. But back then, it was the height of reality TV. The internet in the mid 90s was way too fledgling and social media as we know it today hadn't really come to fruition yet so big news stories were still the domain of broadcasters on the boob tube. And we all sat glued to our cathode ray tubes for every bit of this. Unfortunately for me, the very end of this circus would only be available by way of radio since some neighborhood punks had broken into my apartment and stole my TV.
Perhaps it was, to some part, my personal experience at that time with crime for which I was the victim. The cops that came to inspect my dwelling after I called about the burglary didn't even bother to dust for prints, tacitly implying it'd be a futile activity.
Perhaps it was also my own experiences at the time dealing with the unfairness of how I saw my career path spiraling into a dark abyss.
Perhaps it was the fact that by 1995 I had come to realize, on some plane, that I would likely truly always be alone. I was starting to own and accept my hermit destiny.
But I very much remember listening carefully as I played my radio and took my afternoon shower to get ready for my night shift job. The verdict came over the airwaves and hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember crying out and pounding the tile wall as the steaming water of the shower poured over my bowed head. NOT GUILTY!??
On that day I knew we didn't live in a just world.
After buying a new TV, over the coming days after the verdict, I also came to realize that for some people their view of reality was entirely different than mine. Or at least that's the impression they gave. I still believe to this day that other than truly stupid people, OJ supporters knew in their hearts that, of course, he did it, but they chose to parade what they saw as a triumph against systemic racism. If you ask me, supporting a murderer just because they have a skin color you favor, is the definition of racism.
So now the corporeal remains of a gut-wrenching 20th century has finally gone the wayside. OJ has finally been cut down, slashed, if you will, by cancer.
Last I heard though, Cancer is maintaining their innocence and is vowing to spend the rest of eternity searching for OJ's true killer. Well good luck with that.
EDIT: Eerie coincidence: Last night, while it was 12:15 a.m. Eastern time and 9:15 p.m. Pacific, I was watching the airport drama unfolding before me on Jimi the Hobo's live stream from Phnom Penh, I added the comment "Go OJ, go!" as Jimmy ran to his gate to catch his plane. One other person in chat recognized the reference I was making and jokingly suggested I was old. I typed back that indeed I am, acknowledging the comment I made referred to the classic 1970s Hertz Rent-a-Car commercials OJ did, depicting him running like a quarterback through a crowded airport. News of his death came out today that he had passed on April 10th. No word as to what time of day but it may well have been nighttime since the news came out today rather than yesterday. I can't help wondering "Was my comment right around the time he died?" It is weird that I thought of those old commercials just out of the blue like that. Things that make you go hmm.