As we look ahead to 2013, we still have the horrors of the Sandy Hook School shooting in Newtown, Conn., in mind.
This is probably due, in part to the horrific nature of the event; because national media can’t shut up about it; and, because there have been at least two other high profile shootings in the days since.
Amid the pall the massacre cast over the Christmas holiday, we did find one remarkably bright spot of good news.
Thanks to their brethren in blue, police in Newtown had Christmas Day off this year; that is the entire department had the entire day off, courtesy of their fellow officers from surrounding towns.
According to press reports, this departmental Christmas gift is the result of a grassroots effort among their fellow officers.
Police in Newtown have been on the job every single day since Dec. 14, not only doing their usual duties, but also investigating multiple crime scenes related to the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
Police departments commonly share resources, when and where appropriate, but this was a step beyond.
Around here it is not uncommon for the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office to pinch-hit for any one of the four county towns with a police department, but on any given day, any one of the four might have only one officer on duty. Newtown has an estimated population of 27,000. For the Newtown Police Dept., a 24-hour day involves about 30 officers.
Here police officers volunteered to spend the Christmas holiday working in another town so officers in that town could do anything else but work. It’s a small thing but a really big deal.
We like this story because of what it signifies. Is a day off going to change anything, really? No, not at all. Those responders will likely carry the psychological scars of this event with them for the rest of their lives. Time, of course, will help, but a mere day off by itself doesn’t amount to much.
The thing is, though, it’s something. When you wonder what you can do to make the world a better place, you can do something. It doesn’t have to be huge. It has to be heartfelt, as this holiday effort was.
Somebody you know having a hard time? Forget sending a card – prepare a meal to deliver to them. Don’t worry about being Julia Child. Just do it. The fact that it is one less thing the recipient has to worry about in their time of need, will more than make up for any culinary shortcomings.
Worried about the neighbor across the way? Make a donation earmarked for them to the Community Energy Fund. Even $1 for the fund is one more dollar than they had. It’s a small thing but small things add up.
As we did before we ever heard of Newtown, Conn., Americans…Mainers, have a lot of things to worry about, from our local tax bills to the state of the world. We can handle these things; we can handle anything, one step at a time.
