WARNING: THIS IS A NOVEL Today Cory Schmitt, his friend and myself went down to Ferguson to do.. Well we didnt even know but we knew we wanted to be with the community, exhibit love and peace, and help out if, when and how we could. We parked at the apartment complex where Michael was shot at and go out to go look at the memorial. We then were asked by two ladies to help them unload toys for kids which led into us helping other churches and groups unload donated food for the poorest of the community. We packaged, moved and distributed food for about an hour. We got to work with and for people of the community and even help some of the them carry the goods back to their apartment. One such man told me how he was community watch for the apartments and how theyre neighborhood has come together to keep the area peaceful and kick out any looters or violent people who have attempted to come down and protest around the shooting site. He said theyre making everyone look bad and giving them a bad rep when really its a bunch of good people around where he lives. Seeing all the different groups of all kinds and all races mixed together working to help out the community was so awe-inspiring for me and I believe is truly more representative of the situation. Not what is always portrayed on the media of the violent few. After we helped as much as we could and put up a few more tents, we took our sign which read one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all on the front and peace love justice on the back, and went up to explore west Florissant. We walked by all the stores that were boarded up including reds and the ferguson market and came to a new place called ferguson burger which was not. We went in and had an amazing burger and the owner came to talk to us. I made a joke saying I agreed with his shirt which said something like we should all be topless on it and we told him about what we had seen. He told us the restaurant opened up the night before the shooting and he hadnt boarded up the windows when everyone around him had because he has a really good friend, he said as he pointed upwards. We told him about #fergburg we thought he should use. (Disclaimer:if in noco, eat there. Amazing food) after talking for a while we left and he thanked us sincerely for eating there and for being with the community. Earlier there had been hardly anyone with signs out because they were all at work but after we ate and more had gotten off work there were more about. We made sure to sincerely thank every officer we saw for their service over the past couple of weeks and I greatly hope they understood the honesty in our tone. Another thing that was awesome was how every person we passed would say hey or God bless or hows it going even if they were across the street which isnt what Im used to as Im used to just passing people in silence. It was seriously inspiring. We got to the QT and it was fenced off but it was still very cool to see it especially bc of all the national news. We then turned the corner and went back to the apartment complex where our car was but first wanted to put our sign by a memorial. When we got there we were stopped and talked to by 5 or 6 guys who loved there about our age and they thanked us for our help and we all got a picture together with our signs as we all agreed that stuff like that is what the media should be covering. All the good that is starting to blossom out of such a tragic event. It was a great experience to talk to them and meet them and I think Cory has a picture of it hes going to post. We gave them our sign to use instead of putting it with the memorial. As we were starting to walk back to our car reporters from MTV news stopped us and interviewed us and our recurring message was just how in order to recover we all have to come together to help each other out which can eventually change peoples hearts and minds and bring us together as one human race. She asked us a question about what we thought of the media portrayal of the whole thing and we said that we thought they focused way too much on the violence. I said what I had been waiting to say for a while which was just how the majority of the demonstrators are peaceful, theres a few that want violence and to hurt people that give it all a bad light; in the same way it hurts me to see police who have been portrayed in such a bad light and I stated how I doubted any officers joined the force because they wanted to marginalize minorities or kill people, but some may have skewed or unjust mindsets. The overwhelming majority are amazing people as we talked to today just like the overwhelming majority of protestors and demonstrators are amazing people also like we met today. Apparently check MTV in case that interview is on it. Walking away so many of the people, including the pastors and leaders we worked with earlier thanked us for our time and we shared well wishes and safe blessings as we left. God is most certainly working in Ferguson and good people are shining through. Just maybe not as much if you only follow the news or biased people on twitter one way or another. My advice, if its worth anything, is see what you can do to help or donate whether it be time, money or volunteer. Going to ferguson was hands down one of best moments of my life and I will not forget it or the people I met. Most importantly, keep praying for peace. This community, STL, and our nation will be stronger because of this.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 19:53:44 +0000
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