Moments to Be Remembered

Even LaVar Arrington, whose relations with the Redskins so often were bitter, was a haunting image as he spoke at Taylor's funeral, crying, telling his former teammates he wished he'd told them how much he loved them.

Finally, in addition to the sight of a child beside a parent's coffin and the image of a classic football franchise fighting to keep itself from breaking apart, there was one last disturbing moment, all the more painful because it held too much truth.

The entire crowd only rose in unison in one spontaneous standing ovation. It did not come in response to any praise for Taylor's humility off the field or controlled violence on it, not even for any of the repeated references to how he had changed in the last two years. "Everybody knows the change in Sean," said Clinton Portis, referring to Taylor's altered lifestyle since becoming a father.

Instead, it was Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace who struck the chord. "One of the things I hope comes out of this tragedy is that the media gets a small lesson in grace and humility . . . for those who took the liberty of recklessly speculating that this young man's death was caused by the way he lived all I can say is they should be ashamed," Wallace said. "The next time . . . they have the inclination to tarnish a reputation again, I hope that they will take a look at Sean Taylor and do it a little differently."

In the aftermath of Taylor's shooting during a home invasion, his slaying became a nationwide NFL version of "CSI." Taylor's friends, in their pain, were entitled to say what they felt, even if they were wrong. One such person, Arizona Cardinals cornerback Antrel Rolle, said of his childhood friend that the burglary at Taylor's house "was not the first incident," adding that former "friends" had it in for Taylor. "He lived his life pretty much scared every day when he was down in Miami because those people were targeting him," Rolle said.

Rolle made a mistake in a moment of emotion. Some in the media shouldn't have been in the same rush to connect the dots. At times, journalism bleeds into sociology-on-deadline. That tricky habit of mind can become most destructive in the aftermath of a controversial celebrity death. The desire to generalize, especially with good intentions, is powerful. The problem is that the person who is dead is one unique individual, not the illustration of a theory about society. Until the facts are absolutely certain, it's reasonable to mention all the possibilities in the case but err on the side of respecting the dead.

With Taylor laid to rest, perhaps many kinds of pain, including such misunderstandings, can be buried, too. All of this day's images are too raw and distressing to hold tightly. Instead, perhaps, try another tack.

In life, Sean Taylor was not always an angel. Now, maybe.