A call for change

I’ve been covering high school football since 2014, and have been to countless games. But, something happened last Friday night at a game that never happened before.
I was in the press box at Ville Platte High School for the homecoming game against Church Point and calling it on a Classic Hits 92.5 KVPI and covering it for the Ville Platte Gazette. With about nine minutes to go in the second quarter, I noticed all the Ville Platte spirit squad members run towards the right endzone near Ville Platte Elementary. At first, I didn’t think anything of it because cheerleaders normally run up and down the sideline.
Then I noticed all the players clear the field as gunshots were reported from outside the stadium.
The game was cancelled and the stadium was then cleared.
I stuck around a while to get information for the Gazette, but I got out of there when I saw deputies walking around with high-powered weapons for, what I was told as, crowd control.
Thankfully, I made it out alright and got home safe. But, three people were shot, and one person was sadly killed.
I was, though, shaken up the next day by what happened. I guess it took a while for me to process everything.
The next day, I began to read all the social media comments and was disturbed from what I saw.
It’s easy for people to hide behind a keyboard and complain about things and talk bad about people. What we should be doing is getting involved and being part of the solution.
You may be asking yourself what you can do to help.
First of all, you can be a decent human being. Open the door for someone you don’t know. Acknowledge people you cross on the road, on the sidewalk, or in the grocery aisle. To quote Julie Chen Moonves, “Love one another.”
This sounds easy and all. But, the hard part is doing it for people of a different color than you, people with different color hair than you and body piercings, and people of a different sexuality than you.
If we start doing this, then other people will see it and start copying off of us. It will create a ripple effect that will bring about positive change.
To quote Michael Jackson, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror (who?) I’m asking him to change his ways (who?) And no message could have been any clearer If you wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”
Look, I know evil will still exist in this world no matter of what changes we make. We just have to keep praying for our community and for Ville Platte High.