The times are tumultuous lately and not much seems to be changing after a week full of heartbreaking, heart-wrenching and well just heart-shaped news.
Through all that is going on, it’s important to remember that there are still opportunities for good tidings beyond the violence that we’ve seen in Newton County, beyond the sadness and anger that is spreading throughout America and beyond the world’s troubles.
That is what we’ve seen this week; the full spectrum of our familiar human emotions:
The good
Jack Simpson recently was celebrated by his comrades in the Newton County Sheriff’s Office for his 91st year — not only for just being alive but for living for others. After serving with the U.S military during the invasions of Southern France and Anzio, Italy in World War II, he spent the rest of his years to this point in law enforcement as a special investigator with the FBI and a deputy at NCSO.
Later in the week the Pilot Club and The Vampire Diaries, through Sam Ramsey, aided in good causes by donating to Newton County charitable organizations — Project LifeSaver and the Garden of Gethsemane homeless shelter, respectively.
The Bad
Gun violence has been a big topic this week, as a shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee left five dead and a nation mourning. Newton County had its own troubles as a NCSO deputy was forced to use his weapon with a deadly result when a suspect had a gun of his own, and another woman was shot in the head by her own brother.
The Ugly
A Conyers K9 died after being unattended in a vehicle for 10 hours. Call it neglect, call it abuse or call it an accident, but it’s a tragedy.
Tragedy is all around us, and it’s time to fight through it.
Also in the news this week was the release of photos of Pluto, from a spacecraft more than 3 billion miles away that left nine years ago. The probe lifted off when Pluto was a planet, and now it is not. The photos of the erstwhile planet made us think of how earth and its people have changed as well throughout that time period. Every incident is blasted on Social Media and seemingly brought to hostile conclusions turning people against each other and evolving our levels of violence.
However, in Pluto’s case, after changing from a planet, it still showed us its heart this week … literaly. We feel the collective heart of earth is becoming a little more fragile. Let’s remember the good events and like Pluto’s revelation, show our own heart.
