AndreaUrJoking

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/app/obituary.aspx?n=christopher-anthony-matlosz&pid=147889497

The wake for Officer Matlosz is today and the funeral is tomorrow.  In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter.  If you would like to do so, here are the contact details for this organization…

Telephone: 732-920-1600
Fax: 732-920-3706

Postal address: 185 Brick Boulevard, Brick, NJ 08723
Directions: Located at 185 Brick Boulevard just north of the Stop-n-Shop & Burlington Coat Factory Center.
Email: info@jerseyshoreanimalcenter.org

Please give generously… as he did.

I am heading down to Lakewood in a few minutes actually.  My family is attending the wake and I am babysitting that niece of mine, love her.  Since I don’t have any NYPD swag, I’m rocking my FDNY shirt I got from a real live NY fireman (woot woot for me). Anyway, thank you kind sir for the shirt.  It’s making its maiden (what’s the masculine equivalent of maiden?) journey today down to Jerz due to current events in town.

Finally, let me wish all of the Emergency Service Personnel and First Responders a safe day, as well as safe days to come.  I know that there are rumors of violence in town and I’m praying (and I do not do that often at all) for your well-being.  I hope today begins the healing process for all who knew Officer Matlosz, all who were impacted by this loss, and the town itself.

http://www.app.com/article/20110114/NEWS/110114173/Reward-offered-in-Lakewood-officer-s-shooting-death

http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=271230&position=1&news_type=news

And what shall we do?   An officer gone at twenty seven years old!  A young man whose life is a living body bag at the age of nineteen.   A child kills a young man and for what?

Shake your head, cry with me, look for vengeance but there will be none.  This is entirely our fault.  So bring your worst.  Impose all you can, as we should.  But don’t forget to look in the mirror and commiserate with one another because this is what we have bred into our children.  A life of violence with no future.  A life of public service with no appreciation.

…and then, as we bury our fallen and sentence our mistakes…