Long Island Proud: He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother

With so much really bad news about American behavior being out there to be absorbed I thought some positive vibe needed to be put out there too. Not to diminish the horrific events in Pittsburgh but to remind everyone our country is a mosaic of small communities nationwide. Quite frankly as flawed as the country seems since I have moved onto Long Island post 9/11 2001 what I have noticed is a strong sense of community I have called Long Island Proud. Long Islanders who have each others back.

Evil is a sickness a bad state of mind which makes tortured souls erupt into really bad social behavior. School shootings and church shootings just haven't started these last two years however that's not the point. The point is I believe we are not a sick society but a complex one and we should not lose sight that we want bright futures for our children and their children and our behavior individually is a marker of who we are. What happened in Pittsburgh is a stain on humanity, a massacre of human dignity, however please do not lose sight that the cloth stained by this act is a nationwide sized cloth of humanity. Everyday doctors and nurses policemen and firemen save lives. They usually receive minimum short term praise if any at all.

When I lived in East Hampton Town I saw first hand what a committed community can do. I watched food drives, church shelters manned by my neighbors. I attended fundraisers for victims of fires, cancer, or needs for the health of children. I saw a really good souled community of the hardest working people who at the end of the day "took care of their own." In my role as a reporter I attended services or spoke to religious leaders from the Rabbi of the East Hampton Jewish Center to the head Bishop of the Greek church of Southampton.I heard firsthand their commitment to the Long Island community, mankind, and of course their congregations.

To know one such Jewish congregation in Pittsburgh was ambushed and murdered by a sick individual is depressing and heartbreaking yet we must build a better world from this wrong. I deplore all political people on all sides who use this tragedy for some sort of election edge, but that is what political people do, that is who they are, that is what they believe should be done. When I stood at the ruins of 9-11 with the stench of crushed concrete, melted steel and rotting flesh I did not think politics I felt a violation of decency and a loss of too many who were denied forever the "pursuit of happiness" our nations founders sought.

However I am proud of my hard working Long Island neighbors. I am proud of how they think, act, and behave in crisis. The way they have a sense of community. Yes there is crime, a drug crisis, along with complicated social issues and even some pure evil. But there is grace, love, community service and pride too. I always feel good wins over evil but never gets the headlines. It sickens me when the news media uses tragedy not to inform but win ratings numbers. Presidents come and go, there will be a next President and one after that, but we will still be living in our homes, doing our jobs, and pursuing happiness, the best we can.