OT - Do you have your blue light showing?

[Ysabel Kid]

A lot of people decorate the outside of their homes with beautiful lights to brighten the joyous season of Christmas. When you are putting out your decorations, please remember to put out one, solitary blue light to commemorate our “thin blue line”, and all those who protect and serve us in law enforcement at every level, especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the security and safety of the citizens of this nation.

I read about this tradition a few years ago, so can’t take credit for it. I have practiced it each year since. We decorate our house with white lights only, so the blue light stands out, and I get questions on it each season. Nice to be able to spread the word.

I think this year I will make a formal display, using one blue light for law enforcement, one green light for our military, one red light for firefighters, and one white light for those who serve in medical emergency functions.

SHOW YOUR BLUE LIGHT THIS SEASON!

[wm]

I did my tree out in front of the house in 3 colors....blue for the LEO(1 in the family & 3 close friends), red for Firefighters (3 in the family & 1 friend), and green for service members (2 family & 11 boys that I have coached over the years).

It probably means more to me than anyone else who sees it but it reminds me to say a prayer every morning and every evening that they have a good day.

Wm

P.S. An old saying of mine is that a 'good day' is any day that you stay on the green side of the grass.

[El Chivo]

I think this year I will make a formal display, using one blue light for law enforcement, one green light for our military, one red light for firefighters, and one white light for those who serve in medical emergency functions.

That's pretty much all the colors in the string, right? Don't forget a light for the electricians and the power company who keep it all going 24/7.

[Rusty]

I never heard of it before Jay, but it sounds like a great idea.

[Ysabel Kid]

BTT...

Today's Friday - are you wearing red today?

(We wear red each Friday in support of the troops)...

[win92]

Mine shows!!
Sorry guys must be a Canadian thing??

[Griff]

I think this year I will make a formal display, using one blue light for law enforcement, one green light for our military, one red light for firefighters, and one white light for those who serve in medical emergency functions.

1st time I've heard of this tradition... however old it is. If I put out Christmas lights the neighbors complain. Tell me that all the rabble from Dallas can tell there're houses down our little road... fear, it's a powerful emotion. I keep the peace. No lights.

[Ysabel Kid]

That's pretty much all the colors in the string, right?

Makes more of an impact if you use single lights in a field of white/clear lights.

[Sixgun]

Yea, great idea kid! I never heard of it before. I have been leaving a few turned out a few turns in honor of MLK.-------------------Sixgun

[FWiedner]

... Smells like politics...

[claybob86]

Christmas is for Jesus, not cops.

[MrMurphy]

A brother from my unit deployed with me in 2007/2008. Once we got back he redeployed, this time for a year, to Baghdad.

In Italy and then in Texas, i kept that blue light lit 24/7 in the window for his entire tour.

We were USAF Security Forces, much more on the force protection side, but still referred to as (and trained as) "cops". Even though he was manning a .50 machine gun in a turret or walking dismounted infantry type patrols, he was still a cop in terminology.

He made it back.

[Ysabel Kid]

He made it back.

[Nate C.]

Text from http://www.odmp.org/involved/bluelight.php:

"Concerns of Police Survivors, Inc. (COPS), a national grief support organization comprised of over 12,000 surviving families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, is asking concerned citizens and law enforcement agencies nationwide to again support Project Blue Light.

During the holiday season you are asked to put blue lights in your holiday decorations and your windows and tie blue ribbons on car antennas to show support for law enforcement officers who have given their lives in the line of duty for the citizens they have served. Additionally, this will be a show of support for those who continue to work the streets 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Several years ago, Mrs. Dolly Craig, the surviving mother-in-law of Daniel Gleason, a Philadelphia (PA) police officer killed in the line of duty in 1986, sent her Christmas message to the COPS National office. Her daughter Pam, the surviving widow of Officer Gleason, had been killed in a car accident in August, 1989, before the holiday season. Dolly wrote, .This holiday I.m putting two blue lights in my living room window. One is for Dan and the other is for Pam, who believed so much in the COPS organization.

Dolly Craig is now deceased as well, but her idea of Project Blue Light burns bright in the hearts of the nearly 13,000 families in the COPS organization."

[jkbrea]

Christmas is for Jesus, not cops.

WOW. Plugging in a blue light must be a big thing to some. A 27 yr. old new cop who is a vet of Iraq was gunned down last month two days short of his 28th birthday in Riverside, CA. while trying to do the right thing. Several more murdered since. Burning a little blue light bulb for them does't seem like a big deal. I'm sure Jesus would understand.
Don't do it if it doesn't suit you, but don't slam anyone that does or make smart *** remarks.

YK. Although claybob is right- Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ, I truly appreciate the support shown by people such as yourself towards L.E. These days it honestly makes going to work that much more pleasant.

[FWiedner]

I'm sure Jesus would understand.

After all... he did preach all those sermons about how the legions were "protecting" them, and encouraged his disciples to burn little red candles during Passover.

I'm pretty sure I read that in the Bible somewhere...

[Ysabel Kid]

Christmas is for Jesus, not cops.

WOW. Plugging in a blue light must be a big thing to some. A 27 yr. old new cop who is a vet of Iraq was gunned down last month two days short of his 28th birthday in Riverside, CA. while trying to do the right thing. Several more murdered since. Burning a little blue light bulb for them does't seem like a big deal. I'm sure Jesus would understand.
Don't do it if it doesn't suit you, but don't slam anyone that does or make smart *** remarks.

YK. Although claybob is right- Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ, I truly appreciate the support shown by people such as yourself towards L.E. These days it honestly makes going to work that much more pleasant.

The thousands and thousands of white lights up around my house celebrate and honor the Word made flesh, our Lord and Saviour who came to earth as man to die for our sins so that we may all have eternal life. Those lights honor His birth and His sacrifice.

The one lone blue light honors all the men and women, just human, who each and every day go to work to try to keep us safe. Some didn't come home this year. They certainly didn't risk their lives for the great pay. They sacrificed for us too, and I am humbled to honor them in any way I can.

[rodeo kid]

+ 1 for the Ysabel Kid from the Rodeo Kid, if it were not for our soldier's and Police we might not have a Christmas only Ramadon! God Bless.