For just free-ninety-nine, your cause can have your own personal Martyr

If you believe what you hear/read/see, the recent murder of 4 RCMP officers by a gun-toting-police-hating-child-molesting-pot-growing maniac is reason to, in no particular order:

- Legalize marijuana
- Decriminalize marijuana
- Toughen penalties for people who run grow-ops
- Lighten up penalties for people who run grow-ops
- Toughen penalties for people who use marijuana
- Ban guns
- Control guns
- Stop controlling guns
- Give everyone a gun
- More Police/RCMP presence
- Reduce civil liberties
- Legalize mob justice
- Increase penalties for career criminals
- Provide more therapy/resources/rehabilitiation for repeat offenders
- Increase penalties for child molesters
- Bring back the death penalty
- Keep the death penalty away
- etc.

Everywhere you turn, now, it seems, the only thing you can find in relation to the tragic murder of the four officers, is an article/op-ed/blog entry/radio spot/media report/inquest/etc. which goes, essentially, like this:

"My condolences to the family of those slain. You are in my prayers. NOW THE MURDER OF THESE OFFICERS JUST GOES TO PROVE THAT WE NEED TO [insert cause here]. WE CANNOT LET THEIR LIVES GO TO WASTE WE MUST USE THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO [fight/campaign/protest/etc. for said cause]."

I've been on the family's side. I've sat by and heard people say "In the name of killed Canadian Forces pilot Miles Selby, we must ...", I've seen the news reports which in the ever-so-slightly-slanted way that news reports are made nowadays, invoke the death of someone to make a case for some viewpoint or another.

I used to do it. I used to see something happen to someone in the news, in the paper, etc, and say "Ah ha! This just goes to show that ...", but now that I've been on the "My condolences to the family" side, now that I've been able to sit back and say in my head, "All due respect, Mr. Editor, I knew him and he would disagree with you, and you're invoking his name in your argument", I don't know how you can do such a thing.

The only people who should invoke the name of someone in the name of a cause are those who knew them, those who knew the cause this person fought for in their life, or the cause they would have fought for if they had the chance.

And so, Const. Peter Schiemann, Const. Anthony Gordon, Const. Lionide Johnston and Const. Brock Myrol, rest in peace.