Another fallen hero...
Another...
I had meant to post another entry today...but life...and death...intervened...
Another fallen officer. This one...very close to home. Maryville lost one of the brave today. A Maryville officer was killed during a call to a domestic violence call this afternoon. As I write this, his name has not been released...but he was the father of three...all of them little. We don't know his name...only that he is...another.
Another wife widowed. Another trio of fatherless children. Another senseless murder.
Each time, there are no words to comfort. Each time it happens in a small town, there is the thought that a little more innocence has slipped away. And the inevitable thought seeps into our mind...is here...next? And we shake our head and think...another.
Our community still bears the emotional scar of losing Officer Justin Maples to a car accident. Years later, it's still there.
But as agonizing as a car accident is...it is an accident. No malevolence sought him out and killed him. The pain is no less...but there is something more disturbing about an intentional killing.
Dallas was shocking to the conscience of the nation. Officers targeted because of who they were. Because the wore the badge. Malevolence.
But Dallas really wasn't new...it was just shocking because of the number. Officers are killed with increasing frequency. Mostly by people who mean to. Malevolence.
We are...sadly....becoming accustomed to the word...another. And lifting...another...family in prayer. The images of...another...weeping wife. The video of...another...honor guard.
But tonight...to us...it isn't another. It is a neighbor. It is just up the road. Sadly though...all over the country...someone is shaking their head and thinking...
...another...
