Quick Stop

At least a couple of times a week I'll swing by the Dollar General store to grab a few things.

Melky and Paris like their dog bones, Sam likes the bags of popcorn and Kathy likes the small 100 Grand bars.

A quick stop to break up the day a little, and make the people around here a little more comfortable.

On Tuesday, at one such Dollar General Store a 53-year-old man was shot, by a guy who had an arsenal of weapons, and seemed intent on killing a whole bunch of people that he didn't know.

I've stopped at that particular store a few times as it was right beside one of the active jobs.

The store is less than 8 miles from my home.

The guy who got shot was 53...

...maybe he just stopped in to make his family's day a little better.

And thankfully the Cheektowaga police department intervened and saved lives. The guy had vests, additional guns...all the stuff necessary to kill.

Struck me down sad the more I thought about it.

In these shootings we hear about the victims. The media shows us little snippets of their lives, but they all blend together.

Faces of the Dead at Five.

But I started to put myself in the shoes of the shot 53-year-old guy.

It wasn't me that I was scared for.

Ever since I got married and had kids it was no longer about me...

...but my imagination ran wild and I thought of not coming through the door because some cowardly, miserable, deranged bastard had to pretend he was playing Call of Duty in real life.

My dogs are so fired up when I walk through the door.

My beautiful wife and kids certainly have their moments of aggravation with my routines and demands...

...but I bring the popcorn and 10 Grand Bars around...

...more than I aggravate.

And I thought about a quick stop and a sudden end because we can't figure out how the hell to live...

...and some son-of-a-bitch...

...ah man.

I stopped imagining because I couldn't think about my kids being in pain or being short-changed because someone has a fetish with a gun and a two cent brain.

We gotta' be able to make this better, don't we?

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