This past week has seen it’s ups and downs. A few days ago a police officer in our community was shot in the head while responding to a robbery call. The outpouring of love and compassion shown here has been incredible. This morning we heard the devastating news that he passed away and our hearts are heavy. Earlier in the week our state made history by electing the second Republican Governor in 40 years as well as the first African-American Lt Governor. Much has been said both positive and negative about this event, depending on which side of the political line you fall.
Please do not misinterpret the rest of this post as being insensitive, uncaring or disrespectful in anyway. I believe that the senseless murder of any individual is truly heinous. My deepest sympathies go out to the family of the slain officer and the police community. And while I appreciate that everyone has a right to an opinion, I believe we should always remember that there are human beings who are friends, family, colleagues, etc on the other side of our words.
Much of what I have seen on social media this week in regards to these two events has questioned what is happening in our society and where did we go wrong. But I counter with society hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. There has always been senseless acts of violence. The problem I see is that our community has essentially been living in a bubble. Most people do not pay attention to what is going on outside of here because it doesn’t affect us (or they believe it doesn’t affect us). And then when tragedy hits, as it did with the death of this police officer, people can’t understand what is happening.
My challenge to our community, state, nation and world is to realize that what happens in other places DOES affect us; that the words we say CAN and WILL have an affect on someone we know (and shouldn’t we want that to be a positive affect?); and that nothing is going to change unless we want it to and start taking action. In whatever way, big or small, we can all help make a difference in the world and it starts in our own communities. We must burst the bubble, pay attention to what’s going on around us, pick a cause or effort to be involved with and start making changes today.
alicrain 