Remembering Mason Moore

It saddens me that this week we will memorialize a father, a husband and a Broadwater County Sheriff Deputy whose life was taken at far too young of an age. This being May, it is also the month of memorializing those who served and gave their lives in battle for this country.

Not to make this about myself, but I served three tours over seas with the Marine Corps, and after returning to Montana, I tried my hand in law enforcement for a few months before taking the National Guard Recruiting job here in Glasgow. I will say that the two jobs - military and law enforcement - could not be more different, but they do share profound values and a similar purpose. They share an esprit de corps that few will ever understand, so I know that the men and women wearing blue and brown are feeling a loss that forces a heavy burden on those who survive. A need to make sense of senselessness and a need to act.

The ideal of law enforcement is public safety. In achieving that safety officers, deputies, wardens and agents constantly place their lives on the line. Not knowing from where evil will strike, but meeting every person each day with joyful optimism and healthy skepticism, they move through their lives determined to make the world just a little safer and better. Deputy Mason Moore responded to evil in the middle of the night, and gave his life to that ideal of public safety. He responded to a situation alone in the world, without concern for his own safety, but rather to do what was right. He gave his life pursuing a career that called him to a purpose of sacrifice for the greater good, and I feel his death is an unequalled tragedy.

What I hope Montana learns from Deputy Moore’s sacrifice is that we must fight for the respect of all human life. The senseless killing of any person for no reason is hard to stomach and even harder to rationalize. So I pray we learn from it, and I pray for his family, for his community, his department, for all of the law enforcement community and I pray for all of us. I pray we stop to think of the world around us, and work to make it a better place for every person. We should strive to be like Deputy Moore, or the men and women of law enforcement, and the men and women in the military who sacrifice day in and day out for the lives of many, and sometimes by giving up their own lives. Remember the fallen, and pray for the living that we won't waste their gifts.