Its been a while, but I haven't forgotten.

Take a look. Its what I've been looking at for a month now. I set Mr. Klebold and Mr. Harris as my desktop to remind me of what I should be fighting. After ten years of law enforcement one gets into the rhythm of going from call to call. A stolen bicycle here, my neighbor's music is too loud and I don't have the self esteem enough to go next door and ask him to turn it down there. I lost my cel phone and need a police report to get a new one (x10 a week) and I did something extremely stupid because its all about me when I drive and strangely enough I wrecked my car. But about a month ago I got a twinge, going from bullshit call to bullshit call. That nervous twitch that you get when you think you should look over your shoulder even when you know nothing is there. I was missing something. I had forgotten The Beast, and instinct was telling me to remember. "The people sleep knowing that rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." George Orwell was speaking of men (and women) like me. I'd forgotten that in the complacency of the daily job. Complacency will get you killed. Complacency is also a factor in allowing incidents like Columbine to happen.

Should we be paranoid ? No, just watchful. Mind what we see and believe our instincts. Hold others accountable for their actions and force those with responsibility (cops, judges, prisons) to keep alert. No, we can't be everywhere. Ask the lovely young woman to the right. Anna Sviderski was 6 days shy of her 18th birthday, working at McDonald's, when the Beast came looking for her in the form of David Sullivan. By witness and coworker accounts she was sitting at a table out front when Sullivan walked in and shoved a knife into her side. Sullivan didn't know her. By his own words Sullivan left his house that day with the intentions of 'hurting a woman'. Any woman will do for the Beast.

Sullivan is a prior sex offender and schizo from way back that seems to have slipped through the system, as usual. Blah blah blah. You've heard it all a million times before. He slipped through because the powers that be forgot the Beast. He was free. Anna died. You can see the You Tube video memorials and the My Space pages and get a quick glimpse, not into her of course. Anna had an eight inch piece of steel shoved into her and now you'll never meet her. But you can take a look into the minds of those who loved her. How they saw her. The 'people' who aren't sleeping because the 'rough men' were not 'standing ready'. I wasn't standing ready. Do you see my point with this ? My meaning behind the words ?

I had one more picture I wanted to show you. A news photograph that I can't seem to find but has been in my mind for a couple of decades now. Its a bicycle in front of a McDonald's. Lying next to it is a dead little boy. The boy had saved his allowance and taken it to McDonald's to get him a real McDonald's burger. He met the Beast in the form of James Huberty who walked in and started firing on the crowd. Something like 20 casualties. A Police Sniper took him out before he could kill everyone. The sniper was standing ready. I need to remember that.

PS: Should any of you have a copy of the McDonald's photo of the little boy, I'd love to get a link to it. Been wanting it for my research files for years.