Author R.A. Gasparac

UPDATE: Officer friend has been accounted for, he is home safe with his family.

Hey there.   This is slightly awkward, since I am currently pre writing at least fifty blog posts on the art of writing and so forth.  It’s awkward because this shouldn’t be my first post.  There should be zero reason that it is 5 am and I have not been able to sleep.

Initially, I know what you would think, I must be scared for my life. Thankfully no. I reside far enough away from the shootings last night that I am in no immediate danger.  I’m not able to sleep because I am tired.  Not the typical type of tired before you fall asleep.  This tired transcends the general lack of energy that follows the need to sleep.

This tired is for the senseless killings.  In my current Novel I have been putting off writing a scene, knowing how heartbreaking it will be.  In this chapter my heroine must deal with the backlash of child soldiers killing families in Africa, terrorist attacks in airports, and people walking into peaceful places such as churches and shooting everyone.  I am tired because I have more than enough demons in my writing fiction.  I do not need to see these demons in real life.

I’m tired of all of this killing.  While flipping through social media I scrolled over a report of a Taiwanese Typhoon devastating its region, and all I could think of was “thankfully it was a natural disaster.”

Has it really come to that?  We have been inundated with so many deaths by our own hand that a natural disaster is a welcome change?  I am tired of that feeling. I’m tired of people who turn this into a political game of pointing fingers. I’m tired that so many of us are so focused on an “Us vs. Them” mentality, they cant even accept the fallen officers were victims.

Frequently at the grocery store I shop at, I see a Dallas Police Officer keeping the peace. One night I absently went to pick up some toiletries I was running low on when an officer smiled and said “Hello,” as we crossed paths. Somehow we got into a short conversation on how this is his first real break having worked a thirteen hour shift. THIRTEEN.  He hadn’t even had the time to stop and get something to eat.

I was floored.  I had to right this wrong.  I broke off our conversation, and said I’ll see what I can do.  I’m fairly certain he thought that would be the last he had seen of me.  Luckily there was a fast food restaurant still open, and I ordered the healthiest option available and instructed them it was for the officer. Struck by my gesture the attendant ( who just happened to be the manager on duty) said to tell the Officer to come in and he can have whatever he wanted to eat, regardless of what its price was – he would cover the rest if need be.

I’m not telling you this story to make you ponder on what a humanitarian I am ( okay, maybe I am – but thats not the point here).  The point is that the Officer had never seen this type of kindness while on duty.  People tended to shy away from him when he was in uniform, and only pay lip service.  My random act of kindness should never have been a gesture that moved him to stop me on my way to my car and convey his gratitude ( while giving thanks is good- its the fact that he was never shown appreciation for his work).

The most terrifying layer of this story is that I don’t know if he was helping out at that protest( Dallas PD is VERY short-staffed as is).  I don’t know if the man that represents all of those officers in  my head right now is alive or dead.  A kind, warm human being put his life on the line for years – just like the Officers last night.  Every Officer present represents all of the people who keep us so safe that we aren’t even aware they are doing their work.  They stand between me and anarchy in the streets.

For every bad cop, there are at least three good. Let that sink in.

My call to action is simple. No, I will not ask for people to share my blog post in some mastermind marketing ploy.  All I ask is that when you go about your day tomorrow, and you happen to see a police officer, shake their hand and tell them “Thank you for your service to my community.” Thats it.  You will notice it is similar to thanking a Soldier wearing fatigues, because they are the unsung Soldiers in our community. Some are war vets ( a.k.a. Dallas Swat).

P.S. I promise to have the rest of this blog up and running as soon as possible, and thank you for reading.

Are you tired? I’m tired.