How "Some" Go Off The Rails

Sometimes people and events from the past pop into my mind. This man was one of those people I have never forgotten, even though I didn't really know him all that well. The final part of his life (mentioned below) certainly reinforced my memory about him, although time has taken a toll on many of the details I once knew.   

Back in the 1980s this man rented an apartment at a building I managed. He was older, smoked a pipe and had retired (about 1984?). The 1980s saw the rise and explosion of AIDS around the world. This man was very solitary, which certainly isn't a crime, but did it contribute to an increasing eccentricity that eventually overwhelmed him? Now, when I say "he was solitary," I don't mean he never spoke to others, because he did, but it was limited and he was not a conversationalist, and the housekeeper for the building had known him for quite a number of years, and she had told how he could be somewhat to the abrupt and cantankerous side. There was a legal case pending in the court system about the building, a battle between the building owner and the owner of an office building next to it, over "air rights," so many things were on hold, but I offered to have the man's apartment painted, as he had been there for a number of years, but he said he didn't want to be bothered. Basically the man stayed in his apartment and watched television news (nowhere as extensive in those days compared to today) and listened to talk radio, which became a focus of a conservative to a growing right wing effort in the time of Ronald Reagan, who was the then president of the U.S.

One day in I'd say about 1987 the man came down to the office just as the serviceman for the elevator company was having me sign his paperwork for his regular maintenance visit. The man was agitated about some things he had heard on talk radio about AIDS. I cannot recall the radio show host who had helped work the man into a hateful frenzy. The tenant condemned everyone to death who had AIDS, and when the elevator guy asked him if that meant children, he said "Yes," without any hesitation. The two of us tried to reason with him about the things he was saying, but he was adamant. I have no idea what his overall religious beliefs were; and by that I mean, whether he had some strong religious belief about AIDS and its ties to gay people in those times, as some so called "religious" leaders of the "religious right" loved to condemn others to death or suffering, until of course, they got busted for some transgression, which then miraculously turned them into preachers of forgiveness and redemption for themselves. Then again, the man said "EVERYONE with AIDS" should die, including children, so maybe there was no religious connection. I never saw the guy intoxicated and he certainly did not seem to be "under the influence of any alcohol" that day. I don't believe he drank alcohol. The man with the elevator company was totally appalled by the tenant's hateful rant.

Well the man eventually rented part of a house approximately a mile away, and about 10 to 12 years later, when I worked at a different building, a report came over the radio that a man was shooting at people from a house that had been then surrounded by police. A little while later came the report that the man had been killed. I don't believe he killed or wounded anyone before his end came, but I just cannot remember. It was not until further reports came in and the man's name and address were released that I knew it was the former tenant from the other apartment building.

WORD HISTORY:
Mercury (mercurial)-The ultimate origin of the name/word "Mercury" is uncertain, with it possibly being a Latin borrowing from Etruscan,^ and the Etruscan word that "may" have provided the basis for the word "market." There is a tie between the name "Mercury" and "market" in meaning, as the Roman god Mercury was the god of trade and business initially, with other powers added over time. If true, "Mercury" would go back to Latin "merx," a noun meaning "things for sale, wares," which then would have spawned "Mercurius," the name for the god of business. English borrowed this as "Mercurie" in the mid 1100s, with the planet name also being taken from Latin in about 1300. Latin "Mercurius" came to be applied to the silvery scientific element, "perhaps" because of its quick flowing characteristic, as "Mercury," the god, had also come to be seen as the god of news, and was often depicted with wings on his shoes to convey his fleetness as a messenger. This scientific use was borrowed by English in the latter part of the 1300s. "Mercurial" came as a borrowing in circa 1400 from the Latin adjective "Mercurialis," which meant "associated with or having to do with the god Mercury;" thus from Latin "Mercurius." It "seems" astrologists also added the meaning, "influenced by the planet Mercury," which was supposed to have characteristics from the god Mercury; thus, "quick, fleet;" but also, "quickly changeable, volatile in temperament," the meaning that has remained in English since the middle of the 1600s. 
 
^ Etruscan is not an Indo European language, or at least, linguists have not thus far connected it to Indo European. The modern Italian region of "Tuscany" is named after the Etruscans. Latin is an Indo European language related to English further down the family tree, and it obviously came into much contact with Etruscan in Italy. Etruscan is a mystery language, but it was "possibly" related to some languages of the Aegean Sea area, including "Minoan." Etruscan was spoken in a fairly large part of what is now Italy, but it eventually died out when Latin came to the area, although some of its words were borrowed into Latin.