Perspective

The cold night air swooshed into the apartment as Joey opened the door.  Three tall police officers wearing bulletproof vests over long sleeved shirts stood on the porch.  Each had a gun strapped to his right thigh over plain blue jeans.  Joey glanced back at Mom as one of the officers walked into the home.  More officers entered the living room, emerging from the surrounding trees.  Scared at first, Joey stayed close to Mom while the men with the big voices questioned his parents and relatives.  The clean-cut men were nice enough though, so Joey soon was walking around looking at the visitors more closely.  He ran to his room to get his own neon green and purple Nerf gun.  Joey hardly noticed the officers searching the apartment and demanding the adults sit against the living room wall.  He did notice when his older sister started crying.  Anna never cries. 

Mom handed Joey and Anna their backpacks.  But it’s night time; we can’t be going to school now, thought Joey.  Mom wrapped her arms around him, giving him the biggest squeeze he could remember.  Anna, Joey, and their three siblings walked out the door, following a relative who had come to pick them up.  As Joey turned the corner he noticed his uncle and a friend of the family standing with a police officer, hands restrained behind their backs...the stance all of the adults living in the apartment would take by the end of the night.

As neighbors, we only have part of the picture, but my heart breaks for Joey and his four siblings.  One confusing night will lead to weeks of uncertainty.  The kids will be dropped off at school tomorrow and will be expected to keep it all together, go on with life as usual.  But nothing will be usual anymore.  Yes, they may now be less exposed to drugs and gangs, but family as they knew it has dissolved. 

Pray for Joey, his siblings, and the other “Joeys” in my community and yours.