One of life’s lessons: Chicago’s violent legacy gets personal

Ronnie Chambers Jr. looks down towards his collapsed mother Tahitah Myles during a funeral for the boys father Ronnie Chambers on February 4, 2013 in Chicago. Shirley Chambers of Chicago had four children - three boys and a girl. Now they're all gone. Her son, Ronnie Chambers. was the last of the single mother's children ' all victims of gun violence in Chicago over a period of 18 years.s. REUTERS/John Gress

Its not every day that an assignment teaches you something about your own childhood. When I was 7 years old my father, who shared my name, passed away and when I looked down today, I saw a boy, Ronnie Chambers Jr., who is about he same age as I was back then, sitting at my feet with RIP carved in the back of his hair. He was there mourning the loss of his father, who also shared the same name.