Pittsburgh: Remembering the Fallen Police Officers

I was hesitent to include this photo and story on our blog because it is so sad and does not seem to relate directly to our national literacy conference in Pittsburgh. But upon more reflection, I realize now that it does relate to just about everything we try to do in Literacy AmeriCorps. The facts of the story are better told elsewhere (see the Pittsburgh-Gazette www.post-gazette.com ). In short, three Pittsburgh police officers were shot and killed. These were mindless, senseless, and cruel murders in a city that rarely sees such crimes. The killings happened just before we arrived in town, and the funeral occurred while we were there. By sheer co-incidence a convention of police officers from around the country was happening at the same hotel where we stayed, and one of the bagpipe players for the funeral was actually practicing songs just outside the front door of the lobby. (I recognized him playing the old Irish songs"The Minstrel Boy" and "Danny Boy.") Oddly enough, our service project at Highland Park (see below) occurred a matter of yards from the police station where the three slain officers were stationed. The photo above is of that station. Ordinary citizens laid flowers, crosses, and signs saying "God Bless You" at the front doorstep. By accident I discovered this as I walked back to where our buses were and took a picture.

What we do at Literacy AmeriCorps is teach literacy -- how to read, write, and do basic math. Sometimes we help people get GED's or learn English as a foreign language or help with family literacy. But, hopefully, we do something else too. And that is to give people hope for a better future and a better way of life -- something better than leading a life of mindless, senseless, and cruel destruction.

So, in the end the deaths of these three police officers directly relates to what we do. We in AmeriCorps have a taste of what it is like to serve our community and country. These three police officers -- and their brother and sister officers and police, firefighters, and US military across the country-- know what it is like to take enormous risks everyday to protect ordinary American citizens -- even if those risks include death.

This is something we must never forget in our experience in Pittsburgh.

--Adrian