https://www.instagram.com/p/BHnXMC8h57X/
While America still attempts to come to grips with all of the violence that rocked the country this week, the Texas Rangers’ Joey Gallo used social media to share a personal story he shared with one of the victims.
Gallo took to his Instagram on Friday, a day after five police officers were killed in an ambush at a “Black Lives Matter” protest in Dallas, to remember Patrick Zamarripa, one of the officers that was slain. According to the post from Gallo, he and a teammate had met Zamarripa in Dallas recently.
Here’s the post in full:
A couple months ago @nomazara26 (Nomar Mazara) and I were walking down the street in downtown Dallas. When an officer stopped us, Mazara and I immediately became nervous, “I know who you guys are” he said. “Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara, can I get a picture with you guys please?” It was definitely a first for me and Nomar to have an officer, a true hero, want to meet us. His name is Patrick Zamarripa, one of the officers killed in last nights shootings in Dallas. I’ll never forget how kind and down to Earth he was. We ended up having a 15 minute conversation about sports with him. He was an avid Rangers fan. But more importantly a great person, and family man. Please keep Patrick, and all the officers affected and their families in our prayers today. #prayfordallas
While that story is nothing too extraordinary, it serves as a necessary reminder of the human element. Every time a tragedy occurs — which, these days, seems like far, far too often — it seems as though numbers, narratives and agendas often push the actual loss of human life to the background.
It’s important to remember that each victim is a person, a person whose life has been coldly snatched from them and everyone they’ve impacted. As Gallo reminds us, that impact can be felt in as little as one random encounter on the street.
Zamarripa, who served three tours in Iraq before being killed in Dallas, was 32 years old.
(Via FTW)
