Today, May 15th, is National Peace Officers Memorial Day. Today and all of Police Week is an observance in the United States that pays tribute to the local, state and federal police officers who have died in the line of duty. A week set aside to honor our fallen for making the ultimate sacrifice.
Today, beneath the front steps on the lawn of our nation’s capital, there will be rows of white chairs. Too many of them. Those chairs are for the surviving families of the 2017 fallen officers who will honor their hero they lost.
One year ago today my boys and I sat in those white chairs on that lawn beneath those steps and we honored our hero. I promise you that today those families sitting in those chairs would rather be anywhere else. Unfortunately, after today many will not remember why there was such a huge event at the nation’s capital filled with dignitaries, including the President, Vice President, members of Congress and too many rows of white chairs.
Please, I ask you, say a prayer for those families in the white chairs today.
Say a prayer for the families who sat in those chairs last year, 3 years ago, 10 and even 20 years ago.
I felt so incredibly proud and so incredibly broken at the same time sitting in that chair. It was surreal. But it was so hard to understand why my boys and I were the ones that had to be sitting there.
Today, May 15th, and every single day we will always honor and remember our country’s fallen heroes.
Today and every single day we will always honor and remember our own hero… Officer Michael J. Katherman.
