Kevin: Day 5,449

Day 5449. Do you think I'll win the Mega Millions tomorrow? Well, even if I do, I'm not telling you. My new mantra when it comes to Mega Millions is one that pertains to life on so many levels. You have to be in the game to win the game.

In life, if you don't ask, if you don't do, you typically don't get what you're looking for. Now, this is very general. But, it certainly can be applied to human interactions. I'm hosing a community safety walk this Wednesday with DC MPD and other leadership in the city. I asked many leaders in the community, including ones that I had never communicated with, to participate. And I've been so pleasantly surprised by the amount of them who have accepted the invite. 

We are going through a new, frightening wave of youth lead crime in the city. I am so optomistic by default, to the degree that I often have a, "it's not that bad", mentality. But right now, this minute, it is that bad. One thing that needs to change for this to turnaround is attitude. Attitude in the community, attitude in the police force, attitude of. political leaders. It's time to stop pointing our fingers at each other. We all want, or at least should want the same thing. To end this. To quell this. The only people we should be pointing fingers at are the criminals. It's polarizing for many as we're often talking about 13-14 year olds committing brazen and violent crimes. 

I fear that these criminal kids are going to go after the wrong person and we're going to have a national or even global news event on our hands. I can only imagine there are people in the city who have armed themselves and are just waiting for an opportunity to fight back. And if that happens, it could be a awful scene. We could be talking about literally 7-10, 13-17 year olds all gunned down in one moment. 

I don't see a way to stop this immediately. But I do have ideas on a multitude of measures that could be implemented. More police presence, as-in officers getting out of their vehicles and being present in the community. A ban on the use of personal cell phones for officers for any police related activity and the coinciding issuance of police issued cell phones to all officers. Maybe we need curfews in place. I don't know if curfews have any effect at all, just throwing out ideas.

Anyways, today was a nice 3.5 or so miler. Took it down North Cap to New York Avenue, by Great Great Great Grandpa's on New Jersey and weaved back home. Time for bed.

3.5 miles down

18 dogs