Sunday, January 26, 2014

Quiet Now

We need to give each other a break.  Yesterday, after 11:20 am, I vacuumed my house, mopped the floor, watched a movie with my wife, and ran on the treadmill.  Every successive action away from the tragedy happening two miles south of me made me feel a little better.  The fantastic work of @HCPDNews made it possible to detach, while still feeling informed (at least regarding important, non-speculative matters of public safety).

I appreciated that public safety officials, our County Executive, his staff, and members of the County Council did not have that luxury.  I empathized with what it must be like to have to engage tragedy, wear it on your sleeve, and not say/do the wrong thing all the while being forced into action, forced into words, and forced into the spotlight. 

I read Police Chief William McMahon's bio on the Howard County Police website.  What a great man.

I relived a lot of May 10th.  I was terrified of seeing certain phone numbers show up on my phone.  I lived tragedy that was not meant for me.

I remembered that the words that hurt the most after losing Dennis were those offered with good intentions who suggested how that tragedy could have been averted.  "If only we/he had done X."  Never have I seen ignorance so profound as those who suggest they know it all.

So I wonder if today may be a good day for quiet.  Or at least quiet regarding what went wrong.  Ken Ulman has encouraged us all to do something to make the world a better place.  Replace the good that was displaced with a big dose of bad yesterday.  If all of us threw some good out into the world, I think that would be loud enough to say all we need to say about January 25.