Here I am, Lord
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night
I will go, Lord
If You lead me
I will hold Your people in my heart (Dan Shulte)
I watched my “granddaughter” laid to rest today. Officer Ella French was not my biological granddaughter. The Chicago Police Department is a family. Their members are our brothers and sisters from other mothers. The retirees are the parents and grandparents. I am old enough to be slain Officer Ella French’s grandfather.
I watched the clergy walk to the altar and police officers solemnly fill the chapel at St. Rita Cascia High School. The ritual played out, as it tragically has in the past.
There will be more rituals in the weeks and months to come. Officer French’s star will be retired and placed in the memorial case at Chicago Police Headquarters. Her name will be enshrined on the Chicago Police Memorial Wall.
Later today and tomorrow, the family of the Chicago Police Department will return to the streets. They will do the job no one else wants to do, see things no one else wants to see, and experience things no one else wants to experience. They will do their jobs, serving and protecting the citizens of Chicago. It is a thankless job. They never ask for gratitude.
Like their brethren on the Chicago Fire Department, they will risk life and limb to protect the people of this city and each other. When they leave their homes, families will worry until they walk back in the door. This plays out 24/7/365. Families pray they never receive the phone call and doorbell ring, with somber-faced bosses and a police chaplain telling them their loved one was injured, or worse, killed, enrolling them in a club no one wants to join.
Carlos Yanez, Officer French’s partner, is lying in a hospital bed with catastrophic injuries from being shot with her on that fateful day. His road to recovery will be long and hard. He, too, will not be forgotten. We take care of our people. That is what families do.
Officer Joshua Blas, the third officer working with French and Yanez, is rarely mentioned. He also was a hero that fateful night. He will have emotional wounds. Those may heal over time. But he will never forget.
It is the familial bonds that hold police and fire personnel together. Cops, firefighters, and paramedics only have each other to rely on. We would walk through the fiery gates of hell wearing the proverbial gasoline-soaked coats to help each other.
“We never forget.” We will remember Officer Ella French. We remember the over 500 police officers whose lives were taken. We remember the over 570 firefighters and paramedics killed in the line of duty.
We grieve and mourn, but life goes on. Our police and fire families go on. There is “the job” to do. They will do it. We will be there for them, our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, parents, and grandchildren. They are our family, if not by blood, by bonds. Those bonds hold us together and make us face realities no one else wants to face.