If yours is a family that includes at least one law enforcement officer, then you know the steps that the family of fallen NYPD Police Officer Jason Rivera shall walk forever are one you pray you shall never have to take. More than that, they are steps that - were you imbued with the power to turn back time - you would do all you could to ensure neither the Rivera family nor any law enforcement family ever had to take. Not a single step. Not a single family.
Police Officer Jason Rivera, twenty-two years young, was killed in the line of duty on Friday night. He and his partner, Police Officer Wilbert Mora, were gunned down while responding to a call of a "domestic disturbance". Officer Mora, twenty-seven years young himself, was still battling for his life as I wrote these words on Saturday evening.
At twenty-two, Jason Rivera was a son, a brother, and a husband. He was also a rookie police officer. A young man whose call to serve the people of New York City came from a very personal place.
The people who live and who work in New York City are lucky. They are lucky because notwithstanding the lamentations of those, including loudmouth politicos out to score quick political points by screaming "Defund the Police!", who shall never be willing to put themselves in harm's way to save the life of a stranger as Police Officer Rivera and Police Officer Mora did, they shall continue to be protected by the thousands of men and women who are inspired and who shall continue to be so inspired to do so.
It is no different for them than it is for their colleagues in Federal, State, and Local law enforcement across this country. Regardless of where they work, the beat they walk, and the consituency they serve, each is motivated by a sense of selflessness and a sense of service that many of us - including Yours truly - shall never possess nor, perhaps, completely understand. The least we can do, therefore, is appreciate it.
-AK
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