Alex Jeffrey Pretti …

Image by Gemini AI

Alex Pretti,
woke up 
got out of bed
strapped on a gun
     he was permitted to carry.

Not to use it.
Not to threaten,
    to protect.
But it didn’t matter.

He was there,
his type was unwanted
     not submissive enough.

He had a job.
He cared for others
     and nursed them.
His was a good life
     they didn’t care.

They didn’t think.
They had guns too.
They used them.
Alex Pretti is dead.

According to the Worldometers.info website, approximately 120,000 people die every day around the world, so why is Alex Pretti’s death so consequential?

Was he a better man than most? Kinder, gentler, more in tune with the world around him? In other words, a better person?

Or was it one of those situations where the callousness and indifference that currently exists descended on that street corner where Alex was standing and decided to make a statement to the rest of the world?

A sort of “Devil made me do it” scenario, where the gun connected to the hand, connected to the brains of several agents, went offline for a few seconds, and an abusive sense of power overrode the normal inhibitions that humans possess not to kill one another.

Or maybe it was intended.

To make a point.

To sow fear and provoke obedience.

To control those pesky liberal types.

Alex Pretti’s death was senseless and unnecessary. Like driving drunk and hitting a school bus.

But it happens.

Too often.

What should we do?

Don’t let anyone forget. Or it will happen again.