National Night Out!

Tonight is National Night Out. I'm happy to say, my neighborhood will be out tonight. Last year we weren't (at least as a neighborhood). As we join together this evening to take a bite out of crime, there are several, recent, news stories about gun violence and police officers (among others) being shot at. Tomorrow will mark the funeral services for Officer Scott Patrick who was murdered during a traffic stop last week. I know, all the pro-gun advocates will be saying that Officer Patrick should have had a gun of his own—and then he would never have been shot. They will also say that the bad guys will have guns anyway, even if the guns are "taken away from" the good guys. All of this is neither here nor there to Officer Patrick, his family, or the others who have been killed or have lost loved ones due to senseless gun violence. I know Americans love their guns. I am also weary of seeing and hearing stories about yet another person being killed; day after day... with no end in sight.

So I hope you get the chance to meet your neighbors tonight. I hope you get the chance to reflect on the kind of society that we have become—and the kind of neighborhoods and the kind of world we are creating for our children to grow up and live in.