Lucca, a frequent commentator on our website wrote: Sad thing is that it wasn’t law enforcement who found them!
We could not disagree more strongly.
Indeed we believe that the most uplifting aspect of this story is the role played by civilians who did the right thing. First and foremost of course is local hero Rattana Keomanivong.
With a gun pointed in her face Keomanivong, refused to give in or give up and fought back.
Police ‘experts’ will often tell potential victims of robbery or rape to surrender and survive. We beg to differ. Even if submitting slightly increases ones chances to survive an assault which is thoroughly unprovable it should go against every fiber of one’s being.
Despite all the trappings of civilized life there are still barbarians at the gates and while the police often do a wonderful job in catching criminals they are more likely to catch them after the crime has already been committed.
Having a CSI team match the DNA found on one’s corpse to a killer may put the killer behind bars but the corpse is still dead.
We also believe that if every mugger, masher and robber knew that every time they tried violence they would be met with violence the level of violent crime would recede.
When our children were much younger we taught them that if a stranger ever laid a hand on them, they should scream, yell, hit, kick and bite and otherwise cause a scene. Thankfully they never needed to put into practice that skill, except for the time we took our youngest to the clinic for his vaccinations.
Took five of us to get him into the car and by that time every neighbor on our street had come out of their houses to see just exactly was going on.
Which brings us to the second hero in this story Demar Dahl. Like the neighbors on our street, the County commissioner took it upon himself to do a little air recognizance. He was not deputized or paid and we know he would refuse any compensation for his good deed.
He did the right thing because there were killers in his county and they needed to be caught.
The sage Rabbi Hillel the Great once said ‘If I am not for myself, who will be? And when?”
It is the second half of the Golden Rule, the first part being: “Do not do to others what you would not want them do to you.”
Taken together the two parts form the very essence of what we call civilization. And in a year where violent crime has time and time again shocked the very fabric of our community, it is a valuable lesson to learn again.
As Keomanivong and Dahl illustrate every person is ultimately responsible for their own safety and every neighbor should look after each other.
One does not need a uniform to be a hero. Indeed it is everyone responsibility to protect themselves and our community.
Amen
I did not mean that it was sad that civilians are responsible for the capture of these two…I think that is amazing! It is sad that law enforcement could not find them!
Maybe Lucca should go and be a cop if he thinks the cops aren’t doing a good enough job! Some peoples children!! 🙁