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Real Answers™
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Copyright: © 2009 Greg Asimakoupoulos
685 words

LET'S HAVE A BLUE CHRISTMAS!

By: Greg Asimakoupoulos

Have you noticed how many radio stations are playing non-stop Christmas music? How many times a day do you hear "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas?" I love that song, but this season I'm thinking the more appropriate song would be "I'll Have a Blue Christmas Without You."

By now you've heard about the four cops in suburban Seattle who were gunned down by a ex-con while having coffee in a coffee shop before starting their shift. Although I live in Seattle,  I was in Chicago about to step into the pulpit as a guest preacher at my daughter's church when my i-phone buzzed. It was a text message from CNN announcing the tragedy.

After flying home I heard a radio talkshow host reflecting on the horrific story and the indescribable sorrow the victims' families will face this Christmas season. During the course of his comments, he read an email from a local police dispatcher suggesting that we put a blue light in the front windows of our homes. It would be a practical way during the holidays to honor the memories of these fallen officers (along with the nearly 200 other cops nationwide who have been killed in the line of duty so far this year). It would be a simple way of conveying to the survivors that we are grieving with them.

Pardon the pun, but I thought the blue light idea was a brilliant one. I sat down to pen a simple poem in hopes that it might possibly be forwarded on the internet to promote this idea for the Christmas season.

Once written, I read the poem to our local Rotary club. I sent it to our local chief of police who forwarded it to his entire staff.  I also sent it to a friend who is the morning news anchor for the CBS radio affiliate.  He read it on air. As a result KIRO has decided to initiate Operation Blue Light as a community-wide promotion. 

Perhaps you would like to forward this idea to members of your extended family, neighbors and colleagues at work. In addition, it might be something your church would get on board with. It could be a quiet way of proving the truth of that old Swedish proverb that says, "A shared sorrow is half a sorrow."

It's what Saint Paul had in mind when he suggested that we "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." (Galatians 6:2)

Put a Blue Light in Your Window

Put a blue light in your window
for those officers in blue
who were gunned down having coffee.
It's the least that we can do.
 
It's a way of showing honor
to their families who are left
who must face the coming season
feeling lost, alone, bereft.
 
On these silent nights of sorrow
as we take time to be still
that blue light in the window
will recall those who were killed.
 
Each, with uniform allegiance
to the force they proudly served,
died committed to our safety
and the laws they helped preserve.
 
So... to the green and red of Christmas
let us add the color blue.
It will say to those now fallen
we will never forget you.    

P.S. Oh by the way, I subsequently discovered that the "blue light in the window" idea did not originate with the Seattle-area dispatcher. It's an idea that goes back some twenty years. If you're interested, check out this website:    http://www.nleomf.com/

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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