Real Loss

‘Morning fellow gardeners.  I started to write something this morning about how I was losing a couple of my ‘Becky’ daises inexplicably to what looked like lack of water but a check of the ground around the crowns of the plants late yesterday didn’t seem to match my diagnosis. To tell you the truth fellow gardeners. the loss of a couple of daises kinda went by the wayside this morning as I read the account of the shooting of  Anniston, Alabama police officer Justin Sollohub. The senselessness of  the shooting, the loss for his family, his friends,  his fellow police officers and the loss for the community – I tell you the more I read about him and what kind of man he was, the sadder and angrier it made me.

Like those Seals who died on that downed chopper in Afghanistan here  while back, the loss of folks who want to and do so much for the rest of us, to keep us safe and secure, do it everyday, day after day, well it kinda takes the breath out of you. I tell you fellow gardeners, when you read about the senseless killing of this police officer, well I just don’t know sometimes. Then you read about the life of this officer, and you do know, you  know now that the community has suffered a loss that is irreplaceable.

That police officer like those Seals  lost on that chopper in Afghanistan kinda remind me of the title of that book that was on the best seller list for so long here awhile back ‘The Greatest Generation” or the title of that other book “The Best And The Brightest”.  I reckon I got the loss of this officer and other officers shot in the line of duty, other young men and women in our Armed Forces who are in harms way right now in places like Afghanistan and Iraq and other places we don’t even know of, I reckon I just got all them folks on my mind this morning.

So I’m going to ease on out in the yard in a few minutes and see what’s going on with my daises but I’m going to be thinking about the loss of Officer Justin Sollohub and all the other men and women whose  jobs put them in harms way so life can be better and more secure for the rest of us.

I’ll be shaking my head as I’m piddling around the garden this morning, shaking my head at the tragic loss of such a fine man in the line of duty. I remember the day I read about all the Navy Seals dying that day thousands of miles from Piedmont to make sure I was safe here and now I’m thinking about Officer Sollohub being shot and brain dead.  Shot just 25 miles away, shot so senselessly trying to protect the lives and property of the citizens of Anniston and Calhoun County.

Well fellow gardeners I reckon this morning I won’t be too worried about the loss of a few daises, I’ll be thinking about REAL LOSS… The  REAL LOSS of Officer Sollohub and other folks just like him. Like I said, REAL LOSS.

Paul From Alabama