Shutting a Freeway for A Fallen Officer

A little over a week ago a terrible thing happened in North Central Washington when a man gunned down 6 innocent people, one of which was a police officer. It was a horrendous unfolding of events that sent shock waves through communities in and around Mount Vernon, WA.

A few days ago, as an honor for the fallen officer, the Washington State Patrol (one of THE finest State Law Forces in the nation) temporarily shut down a portion of Interstate 5 so the funeral procession could travel safely, and as an act of honoring the slain officer.

On Sunday, a "wonderful citizen" of the area wrote a letter of complaint to the Seattle Post Intelligencer stating how ridiculous it was that the freeway was shut down (briefly), and how inconvenienced he was. He was so incensed by the action of the State Patrol that he is considering filing a complaint regarding the whole matter.

What the #@&%?!!

Is this man really serious? Does he have one ounce of compassion for not only this officer, but for her family, or even for the civilians killed as well? So he was late getting to where he needed to be; big deal. So he was upset because of the traffic back-up; what a shame.

This man needs to put his priorities in line. When we feel we are inconvenienced because we have to wait for a funeral procession that also honors someone who has died defending us, then something is seriously wrong with us.

Human compassion is inherent in all of us. Whether we personally know someone who has died or not, we all pause to think about them even if only for a few seconds. Tell me I'm wrong.

I think that this individual needs to put aside his irritation at being inconvenienced. He needs to just stop and think, only for a few seconds. And in doing so, I would hope that he finds it in his heart to realize that his annoyance was unjustified, and just plain wrong.

It is a very sad statement on us all when basic human compassion and kindness is over-ridden by impatience, annoyance, and wrongly placed anger. Sad indeed.