Porch Light Shining for Officers Down
I just turned my porch light on again for the evening. Its bluish hue casts a ghostly tint on my front porch and sidewalk, but I assure you, it is lit out of honor and respect.
To those unfamiliar with the routine, when an officer or officers are killed in the line of duty, blue becomes the theme for those linked together by the thin blue line. Porch lights across America shine in remembrance of their fallen brother or sister.
Tonight, I light it for a missing deputy in Texas who was possibly swept away by swift flood waters; for a deputy in Georgia, a newlywed, gunned down by a suicidal man; a Pennsylvania State Police Corporal ambushed in front of his barracks; a border patrol agent killed in a car accident; a South Carolina deputy answering a disturbance call; and a Kansas officer gunned down during a traffic stop. All these just in the first two weeks of September.
Nine children without their father.
Wives without a husband and provider.
Departments feeling the loss of a comrade and friend.
I haven't seen any flags half staff. Haven't heard any heartfelt goodbyes or thank you for your service on any news broadcasts locally or nation-wide, though there may have been some somewhere. Yet...they're not forgotten. We, in this family, feel each one. Mourn with those who mourn. Pray for those who have lost. And light our porch lights in remembrance.
As Chris Cosgriff, Founder of Officer Down Memorial Page said, "When a police officer is killed, it's not an agency that loses an officer, it's an entire nation."
Their families at home, too, know the risk. As a wife and mom of officers, I can attest that we think about it often, but don't dwell. I know some listen intently to scanners or keep track of what's happening through various media sources, but all in all for many of us, it is left in the hands of God, knowing that He alone knows the future.
Several years ago when I put together my book, Standing Courageous, I wrote the following poem in the opening pages:
To those unfamiliar with the routine, when an officer or officers are killed in the line of duty, blue becomes the theme for those linked together by the thin blue line. Porch lights across America shine in remembrance of their fallen brother or sister.
Tonight, I light it for a missing deputy in Texas who was possibly swept away by swift flood waters; for a deputy in Georgia, a newlywed, gunned down by a suicidal man; a Pennsylvania State Police Corporal ambushed in front of his barracks; a border patrol agent killed in a car accident; a South Carolina deputy answering a disturbance call; and a Kansas officer gunned down during a traffic stop. All these just in the first two weeks of September.
Nine children without their father.
Wives without a husband and provider.
Departments feeling the loss of a comrade and friend.
I haven't seen any flags half staff. Haven't heard any heartfelt goodbyes or thank you for your service on any news broadcasts locally or nation-wide, though there may have been some somewhere. Yet...they're not forgotten. We, in this family, feel each one. Mourn with those who mourn. Pray for those who have lost. And light our porch lights in remembrance.
As Chris Cosgriff, Founder of Officer Down Memorial Page said, "When a police officer is killed, it's not an agency that loses an officer, it's an entire nation."
Their families at home, too, know the risk. As a wife and mom of officers, I can attest that we think about it often, but don't dwell. I know some listen intently to scanners or keep track of what's happening through various media sources, but all in all for many of us, it is left in the hands of God, knowing that He alone knows the future.
Several years ago when I put together my book, Standing Courageous, I wrote the following poem in the opening pages:
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