An old man walked up a shore littered with thousands of starfish, beached and dying after a storm. A young man was picking them up and flinging them back into the ocean. "Why do you bother?" the old man scofted. "You're not saving enough to make a difference." The young man picked up another starfish and sent it spinning back to the water. "Made a difference to that one," he said.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Days 94, 107, 108, 159, 162, 166, 170, 180, 198, 199, 200 and 205- No end in sight for these letters.

As of today, August 5th 109 police officers have been killed in the line of duty in 2011.  This is up 5% over last year at the same time.  If you have been following my blog you know that I have made a commitment to write every family who has lost a son, daughter, brother, sister, husband/wife in the line of duty.  Over these ten days I wrote 32 letters to the families of :

·         Office Schaberger

·         Officer Breitkopt

·         Deputy Justus

·         Deputy Stiltner

·         Officer Brown

·         Officer Gibson

·         Officer Dunn

·         Deputy Diana

·         Deputy Britton

·         Trooper Dobson

·         Game Warden Gorden

·         Officer Birkholz

·         Senior Officer Christian

·         Deputy Stein

·         Trooper Fotiou

·         Sgt. Chapin

·         Officer Schmidt

·         Officer Johnson

·         Officer Cooper

·         Trooper Werda

·         Deputy Sherri Jones

·         Officer Zapata

·         Deputy Taylor

·         Officer Kilcullen

·         Sgt. Vann

·         Officer Garton

·         Officer Phillips

·         Trooper Hunter

·         Officer Tirado

·         Captain Braden

·         Officer Hall

·         Sgt. Dulle

I began this committment at the beginning of the year and I am starting to see that even one hand written note from a stranger can make a big difference.  I have been deeply touched by the responses I have received from law enforcement agencies and families of those killed in the line of duty.  Many days we give gifts and we never know the impact of the gift we gave. And then other days we see and know that just one person can make a difference.