10 years to this day.

10 years since Matthew Shepard got beat up and tied to a fence with his own shoelaces, waiting for his death which finally came on October 12. 10 years since the world lost the last bit of it's innocence.
Oct 7, 1998. I was 9 back then. So I can't really remember the way people reacted; if it even was in the news here. I only heard about Matthew a couple of years ago. My first encouter with Matthew was through the song 'Scarecrow' by Melissa Etheridge. I did my research and found out what the song was about. Even before I knew that the song made me shiver for some unknown reason. So you can imagine what it was like listening to this song after I knew what it was about. Goosebumps, tears, anger, powerlessness all at once and in no parricular order.
Last May I got confronted with Matthew again and once again that happened by means of a song. I went to see Sarah Bettens and her support act was a Dutch band called A Balladeer. Never heard of them before, but as soon as they started talking about Matthew as the intro of their song about him, Poster Child, they had a new fan. I immediately bought their first two albums to have that song on CD. Turned out, the song had not been released yet back then. It has been released a couple of weeks ago so I'll get my copy soon. And tonight I'm gonna see them again! I don't know the words to any of their songs, I just want to hear Poster Child and gain a little confidence in the fact that the world has not forgotten 21-year old Matthew. Capice.