Tonight Beth and I went to the Sean Connaughton Plaza at the Prince William Government Complex in Eastern Prince William. Not about the Rule of Law, or taxes in Prince William but about a young man who meant a lot to many of us. Tonight Beth and I went to the Sean Connaughton Plaza at the Prince William Government Complex in Eastern Prince William. Not about the Rule of Law, or taxes in Prince William but about a young man who meant a lot to many of us.
Just honoring the memory of a youth who gave all for the citizens of this county one year ago today. The Virginia Tech shootings got all the media coverage, but the death of young Kyle Wilson still drives a lot of emotion and actions among the active and retired members of the Prince William Department of Fire and Rescue. Several hundred of Kyle’s friends, coworkers, many with loved ones there as well, gathered to again remember what kind of a person he was and what he meant to us all. Cops and bureaucrats, brothers and sister fire fighter union members from around the metro DC region (including 25 fire fighters on motorcycles from Maryland), radio and breathing apparatus techs and lots of significant others.
Kyle was emblematic of what county government and its employees need to be about. Helping folks in trouble. Never checking for ’status’ or ability to pay. Just helping. Dealing not with the failures of the federal government, but dealing with fellow humans in distress.
Knowing now that the house in which Kyle died was empty is irrelevant. That’s what we do. Answer the call and help. That’s what government should do. Answer the call and help.
It was haunting as everyone held a candle lit first by the crews that were with Kyle in his last moments, and then like a wave carrying and transferring the flame to the person next to you. Tonight in the sometimes stiff breeze on a balmy night folks struggled to keep their flames lit.
A year ago the gale winds that caused the Marsh Overlook house in which Kyle died, to essentially explode had the opposite effect.
But life goes on and as I told Chief Collins, I was never more proud of my department than when I read the line of Duty Death report that took almost a year to complete. Honest, Painful, Insightful, and Solutions Focused.
Paper that helps heal…
RIP my young brother…
b
cross-posted at www.GettingAround.org