Posted on 12/21/2001 8:14:00 PM PST by JohnD9207
Random violence claims carrier Robert Jenkins, husband and father, did not walk his Tulsa mail route Wednesday thinking that it would be his day to die. He left for his job, as most of us do, expecting to work his shift and then return home to those he held dear. Things did not work out that way for Jenkins, 30, the victim of an apparent random act of violence. He will never go home and his 18 month old daughter will not grow up with her father. The nine-year postal veteran took a bullet in the back. Witnesses claim the bullet came from the gun of Jason Weed, 27. Weed was arrested a few minutes later near the Brookside district, carrying a loaded gun and acting erratically. Weed was booked into the Tulsa Jail on a first-degree murder complaint. By all accounts Jenkins was a dedicated worker in a job that can be thankless and physically demanding. "Everyone liked him," said John Harrison, president of the Tulsa chapter of the National Letter Carriers Association. "He was a good employee." Around Oklahoma, flags at post offices were at half staff and a fund for the family was set up at the Tulsa Postal Federal Credit Union. Letter carriers fight bad weather, snarling dogs, heavy traffic and other hazzards on a day-in, day-out basis. And while a postal handler died this fall from inhalation anthrax, no route carrier had been a homicide victim in a couple of years. The last homicides included a letter carrier who was shot at a Los Angeles Jewish community center. Another was murdered in a carjacking in rural Mississippi. In fiscal 2000, postal inspectors responded to 1,037 postal related assults and credible threats. Their investigations led to 441 arrests. "The thought of delivering mail and encountering what happened (to Jenkins) Couldn't possibly be anticipated by any letter carrier," one postal supervisor said. Indeed it could not. In this year, when so much violence has rained down on America, the death of Robert Jenkins marks yet another instance of man's inhumanity to man.
And yes, I do believe that a man's son can be his hero. I didn't always think that way. I remember being skeptical, when Bill Cosby said of his murdered son, Ennis, that Ennis was his hero. Then I became a father, and learned otherwise.
Thanks for the *ping* e-s, appreciate it.
As I once told another FReeper friend who had lost a close family member, we can never know why (let alone "when") the Lord decides to take someone close to us Home to be with Him. How do we react, despite our faith? I'll just tell you what I've learned.
Thank Him.
I know how difficult that is, especially right now. However, thank Him for the wonderful years you all spent together. Thank Him for His blessings; for blessing you with Robert, for allowing him into your lives.......albeit too briefly. We are all taught that the Lord does all things to the Good, and yet it can be SO difficult to see any "good" in such a tragic event. Yet, we must act on our faith; we must take the Lord at His word and thank Him for ALL things. By doing so, you acknowledge His sovereignty. He will bring you peace; He will bring healing and renewal. He will bless your family.
Thank Him.
Our prayers are with you, and we pray that the Lord show Himself mighty on your behalf. God bless.
I am profoundly saddened to learn of the loss to your family. There's no sense in such things. Our prayers are with you and your family. May God bless you and His will be done.
David
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