This is our home...

So, this one has taken me a few days to write...

Last Wednesday, a shooting took place two doors down from where we live. Rachel and I were driving home from Princeton when we turned the corner onto our street and saw flashing red and blue lights. We jokingly laughed and and looked at each other saying "Welcome home." As we drove closer to our house, though, we noticed that the red and blue lights flashed in front of our home. Then, we noticed the police barrier erected using strategically placed police cars and yellow tape that read "POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS." We drove up to the corner of our block where we found a police officer nonchalantly standing. We asked him what happened. And with the ease of someone responding to a "How is your day" kind of question as one passes another on the street, the police officer simply replied, "Ehhh, a shootin'." Ehhh, a shootin'. Immediately after the officer said this to Rachel and me as we sat still in the car, he picked up a bullet casing from the sidewalk and simply walked away.

Rachel and I drove around to the back alley, parked the car, unloaded the groceries, then sprinted outside. I wish I could say that Law and Order was filming an episode on our sidewalk, but unfortunately, the scene that took place on the 600 Block of Centre Street last Wednesday involved real life with real bullets being shot at real people. Rachel and I visited our neighbors for the next hour and a half talking, grieving, and anxiously determining life. I saw a mother sprint through a police barrier at the chagrin of the detectives to embrace her daughter whose rear windshield, passenger seat headrest, and front windshield had been penetrated with a .45 bullet. I saw my neighbor whose car had been busted crying in both fear and relief because only five minutes earlier her and her friend had gotten out of that car to walk inside. I saw a young man - the one whom the perpetrator targeted - stoically standing in front of his friends and family contemplating the stark reality that he almost "got capped today." I saw a detective looking for bullets underneath Rachel's car. I saw a neighborhood - one that has embraced my housemates and me - bewildered that this situation could happen in broad daylight on a street corner as kids were walking home from school! And, honestly, so was I.

We live in a dangerous neighborhood. I concede that, especially after last Wednesday. None of us ought to take our safety for granted. But I must say, however, that in the 2 months that I have lived in Trenton, my neighbors have welcomed my housemates and me into the community with open arms. Men, who would generally in any other circumstance walk blindly by me in the supermarket, the mall, or wherever, wave at me, call me by my first name, ask me about my day, and invite me into their homes. And me, a young white man from WV, who in any other circumstance might feel intimidated by such men, such as my neighbors, give smiles and high-fives, talk about the most recent college football game, and share housewarming parties. We swap stories of mischievous teenage acts trying to outdo the other. And may I add, I am not far behind.



For better or for worse, Centre Street is my home, along with countless other families from all over the world. And a couple days ago, our homes were threatened, violated. Bullets whizzed by our front porch and down a sidewalk where children play hopscotch, where families laugh under the light of tiki torches, where we stand for the ice cream truck, and where new, unlikely friendships have been made in the recent months. My worldview has certainly changed because of this experience. I am not in WV anymore that is for sure. Yet, my call has not wavered. After our housewarming party, which was phenomenal (and took place only hours after the shooting, which we will post about soon), all of us felt affirmed in our call to participate in this neighborhood. In fact, I am growing to fall in love with both my community and my neighbors. And though this shooting has shaken me up and has been on my mind every moment since it took place, I cannot imagine anywhere else that I would rather be than on Centre Street. This is my home... this is our home.

God is Love,
Ryan