There is a simple adage that had been handed down throughout generations of African-American families: God don’t like ugly.
Those words came to mind when watching the reality-show train wreck that has become the life of George Zimmerman.
In the weeks since a jury in Sanford, Florida, reached a not guilty verdict in the second-degree murder trial in the death of Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman has been on a nonstop roller-coaster ride from one outrageous situation after another.
The most extreme and disturbing incident occurred this past week, when Zimmeman’s estranged wife, Shellie, called the police in Lake Mary, Florida, insisting that her husband assaulted her father and threatened the two of them with a gun.
In the 911 call, Shellie Zimmerman tells the police dispatcher that her husband, George Zimmerman, was sitting in his vehicle and "continually has his hand on his gun and he says step closer…" The dispatcher then asked, "step closer and what?" At that point, Shellie Zimmerman said, "a step closer and he'd shoot us."
There is an argument to be made that a man who would assault his father-in-law and pull a gun on his estranged wife during an argument is certainly capable of, well, you get the idea.
There seems to be incessant drama in the life of George Zimmerman. He has twice been stopped for speeding just in recent weeks. Prior to last week’s 911 call, Shellie Zimmerman announced that she was divorcing her husband, saying he was a selfish man whose behavior had changed radically.
"I think I'm realizing that I have been married to a person for almost seven years, and I don't think that I ever really knew him at all," she said in an interview on ABC News.

"I stood by my husband through everything and I kind of feel like he left me with a bunch of broken glass that I'm supposed to now assemble and make a life… It's just heartbreaking," she said.
The portrait painted by Shellie Zimmerman of her husband during that chilling 911 call is of a man who is out of control, perfectly comfortable brandishing a gun to escalate tension to horrific levels.
His soon-to-be ex-wife claims that George Zimmerman’s behavior has changed since the verdict was reached and that he has become a more temperamental and violent man. But it’s hard to believe that this grown man’s morphing into the monster she describes occurred in just a matter of a few short months. Perhaps that behavior pattern was there all the time and the world is simply getting a more accurate glimpse of the man who was there all the time.

The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of BET Networks.

BET National News - Keep up to date with breaking news stories from around the nation, including headlines from the hip hop and entertainment world. Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. 

(Photo: Joe Burbank-Pool/Getty Images)