I've written many times of the death of a police officer. In each of my 7 books; in many of my columns over years, I have tried to bring a human feeling to what a police officer means to you while he's alive, and the devastating loss we as a community feel in our hearts when a violent death takes him away. It is a pain unlike any other. A mournful angst; a meloncholy blanket - heavy and thick.
But today, I write of what the death of Virginia Tech University Police Officer Deriek Crouse; at the hands of a suicidal and pathetic child, means to you - the public he served. It seems every turn in his short life was made to serve you - to protect you in some way. As a correctional officer, a soldier fighting the war in Iraq, or finally as a police officer. His gift - his purpose upon this earth - was quite clearly to place himslef into the path of danger and harm so that your children - especially those attending Virginia Tech - could do so with a little less worry of harm and evil. I pray you understand his selfless gift to you. I pray you are grateful.
When a police officer takes a badge, he understands very, very clearly and always keeps in crystal focus, the very real possibility that someone may try to hurt him, or kill him. It may be to escape capture, to evade attention or, as in this case, to simply be an insane criminal with no logical reason behind it as he selfishly takes someone with him when he goes. No rhyme. No reason.
A police officer also clealry understands that his family may be left behind if the worst should happen and he prays that the community he servded will find a way to take care of them after he is gone. It is my prayer that the faculty, students and community in and around Virgina Tech will dig deep and do just that.
You lost an invaluable friend that day, America. You lost a gallant soldier who upheld his sworn oath - a promise to God - to give his life to you if it came to that. Not only have you lost the man, America, you have lost the investment in his skills, the love in his heart and the valor with which he performed every day, simply by putting on his uniform and walking out the door.
You have lost, America. You have lost an irreplaceable treasure. I hope you see that and that one day, somehow, you find a few moments to pray - for his soul and for your countrymen. And that you may find another brave man or woman, to fearlessly pick up his bloodied badge, polish away the tears and scars it holds and boldly pin it onto a new uniform. All the while, wondering why this new warrior would do this job.
With no clear answer, you will simply thank God, that he or she, does.
