Sacred Money, Part V

Four days ago, Denver police killed a 16-year-old girl.

So, what's new?  It seems that every day I read of police officers killing someone.

The teen was not perfect - neither was I when I was sixteen.  When we are sixteen, we are still learning how to be in this world.  We are young owls, sitting on a branch right outside the nest, taking little test flights, trying out our wings.  We screw up.

Grown-ups screw up, too.  They are not perfect, either.  But it is their job to protect, to learn from, to teach, and to empower the young people of this world.  In an ideal world, grown-ups would lead by example, doing their best, while taking ownership of their mistakes.

I wasn't there when the killing happened.  There are different points of view coming out, and I don't know if the police are telling the real story, or if the truth is being told by those who were in the car when the teen died.  

I do know that it is a rare event in our country for a police officer to take responsibility for killing someone he shouldn't have.  So rare that I don't have any hope of an officer being charged in this case or in any other police killings.  This is not only unfair to the victims and their families, it's unfair to you and me, and it's unfair to the police officers who kill.  When a person doesn't admit wrongdoing, he can't ask forgiveness, he can't heal.  How would you like to live with the blood of another on your hands and in your heart?  It takes a lot of armor to silence the heart of someone who has killed a girl not much different than one's own daughter or sister or niece.

This killing has sickened me for days.  Like Jessica's mom, I, too, raised teenagers.  When I put myself in Jessica's mama's place, my legs nearly buckle out from under me.  And when I think of the girl's friends who witnessed her killing, I wonder how they can possibly grow up respecting the people who are charged with serving and protecting.

So today, I sent some of the Sacred Money to Jessica's family in order to help with her burial and other expenses.  What a small drop in the large ocean of grief...

I broke my rules by doing this.  I had intended to form a relationship with the receivers of the money, but I have not met Jessica's family.  I probably won't know how the money is spent, and I won't know the journey of Jessica's mama's grief. 

The only "better" I feel, now that I have given the money to Jessica's family comes from getting rid of the itch that kept bugging me to donate.  Jessica is still dead, and police - and others - will still kill.  Hopefully, the family feels a little comfort in knowing that there are people who care.

May we all be kind to one another.



Sacred Money, Part IV
Sacred Money, Part III
Sacred Money, Part II
Sacred Money

There is only $50 left in the Sacred Money fund.  Some ideas for where that money will go are brewing in my head.  This has not been the journey that I expected it to be.  I will write about it soon.