"No contact, 11:01."

[zolac_no_miko]

Perhaps you are aware of Park Ranger Margaret Anderson, who was shot and killed in the line of duty at Mt. Rainier National Park on January 1st. Iraq veteran Benjamin Colton Barnes had killed several people, and was heading up to the park, heavily armed. When he blew through a roadblock, Ranger Anderson pulled her SUV in front of him, attempting

Comments

[sirona_gs]

Oh, man. What an amazing woman. May she rest in peace.

That really is a deeply touching thing to do, and god, so sad. Says so much about loss, no response, no contact. I can see why it would have made you sad -- I suspect you held up a lot better than I would have -- I probably would have cried even behind my shades. (In fact, I'm tearing up even now. God, it would have been embarrassing. But yes. So it goes, indeed.

In other news, that is good news, that your truck is harder to break into than most! :)

[zolac_no_miko]

Yes! Exactly, that's exactly it.

...You should've seen how much trouble the guy was having with it. I'm sort of proud of the little dented, purple thing.

[realpestilence]

I'm tearing up, just reading about it. That was a fitting and moving memorial.

[zolac_no_miko]

I rather thought so. Glad it's not just me.

[cradle_song]

Oh my god, that's just heartbreakingly poignant.

[zolac_no_miko]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so.

[jamafanta]

Have you read Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett? It's about the "clacks", which is a sort of visual telegraph sent from really tall towers across great distances. Operators are built like monkeys and spend all their time on their own at the top of the clacks towers, and it's not uncommon for them to die in the course of duty. In the middle of the night, when no commercial messages are being passed along, the operators send the names of the dead up the chain of clacks towers and back again. Sort of similar.

...except for how your story is real. That's a really appropriate and very moving memorial. I'm getting teary too, just thinking about it.

[zolac_no_miko]

I haven't read it. I've not read... nearly as much Terry Pratchett as I should for the good of humanity and my own street cred.

Yeah, it's... incredibly beautiful and powerful and moving and sad. I'm glad I witnessed it.

[evilhippo]

I'd heard about her, from another friend that works in the park service. I don't think I would've kept dry eyes through that memorial. I'm powerless against small, poignant gestures.

I also managed to lock myself out of my vehicle today... with much less helpfulness from others. Somehow the one key I don't have a spare for fell off my key ring, so my bike is stuck outside my office. The police offered to shoot the lock off, the city offered to send streets and sanitation to "dispose" of my bike... and a locksmith told me it'd cost about $95 to cut the lock off. So tomorrow I am attempting to pick the lock with a Bic pen and if that doesn't work, I'm asking every building within a six-block radius whether they have a set of bolt cutters.

[zolac_no_miko]

...I don't know why I thought people might not feel the same way... I feel... I dunno, vindicated in my empathy.

*facepalm* Wow, Chicago's so helpful, isn't it? Jeeze... good luck! DD: