I got back from court today to find out that a body had been found dead in a hospital parking lot. Turns out it was a Border Patrol agent who committed suicide. 

How sad. I'm one of those people who has a hard time understanding suicide, even though it's happened close to me a few times. With the new reports revealing that the Ann Arbor firefighter who was hit and killed by a car on the freeway in Farmington was actually a suicide and then hearing this, it's devastating.

What really saddened me was talking to the police department handling the investigation and hearing the tone of their voices, how upset they were by this.

As a journalist who covers police and fire, I've developed relationships with several of the officers/officials/servicemen. You get to see a whole different side of the police and firefighters at this job. Granted, sometimes they hate you for asking too many questions or prying to get a story.

There are some detectives and police chiefs Downriver who are spectacular people and who are more than willing to work with me. There are firefighters who call me with details after a fire and who are trying to gather items for families who lost items in a fire.

And most of them are just downright good people. There's a Downriver firefighter who messages me on Facebook occasionally just to say hi and that he looks forward to reading something of mine. After being reamed by people who don't like your work, it's so nice to hear that someone does.

A few of the detectives and chiefs have taken time to ask about my background and want to get to know more things about me and what I want to do. They know that I have to ask certain questions and don't get angry about it. They know that I'll write most any story they give me and that's their way of getting some stories out in the open. It's a working relationship that I've come to treasure, as a journalist and a person.

Hearing another serviceman was in such a tragic state of mind is such a terrible thing. There's no other way to describe it, it's just really damn sad. 

I hope the serviceman/officials who I work with regularly know how much they are appreciated. Journalism would be a lot less of a career without the help from these men and women. I'd be less of a person without knowing them and the world would be a hell of a lot worse if they didn't care so much.

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot." - Eleanor Roosevelt