Whenever we encounter a reminder triggering a memory of an event in our past, and realize the amount of time that seems to have just evaporated since then, we often ask the question,
Where did the time go?
I experienced this just the other day when I was presented with the fact that one of my best friends, an Officer of the East Providence Police Department, with whom I had worked closely, has been dead for twenty-three years.
Twenty-three years?
How is that possible?
How is it that I am just now remembering this?
Well, of course, it is not true.
I thought about him constantly during the time from when I first learned of his death, until we buried him.
As the anger set in, that life took such an essentially honest guy, Army veteran, multiple tours in Vietnam, Bronze star for Valor recipient, and thrust him needlessly, and fatally, into a telephone pole, breaking our hearts, the frequency of my thinking of him diminished.
I thought of him daily.
I thought of him monthly.
I thought of him, sometimes.
I was reminded of him today because my wife saw his name on a granite memorial in front of the police station, reminded me of his death, and asked,
Where did the time go?
I served PROUDLY on the East Providence Police Department for Twenty years.
I served with (mostly) the highest caliber of individuals one could ever hope for.
I have long since left the ranks of that department but I hold dear to my heart the memories of those that tried to make a difference.
That’s what Cops do.
I had the privilege to work with people that had the courage to try and make a difference.
We didn’t always succeed.
Truth be told, more often than not, we failed.
But we never stopped trying.
There are officers wearing that uniform today that carry on the tradition.
They will never stop trying.
So for all those men and women that had the courage to wear that uniform, bear that burden, stand tall and strive to make a difference……. thank you for the honor of being among you.
And to those who bore that burden, wore that uniform, stepped up and tried…….
Well, there is nothing more be said…..
Where did the time go?