There ain’t no doubt I love this land, God bless the U.S.A.
It was the day when Tragedy hit my hometown. Yesterday, when I heard about the deadly snipers attack in Dallas, my heart ached for the police and innocent civilians who had to run for their lives. Unfortunately some police officers were dead and some injured. I silently cried.
This morning, I turned on TV to watch NBC Today. I knew there will be more coverage and details on this incident.
There was explicit footage of this incident, videos and pictures. As I watched those videos, my brain took me to the actual scene and I felt as if I was among the crowd at the time of that fatal sniper shooting.
Then there was a briefing by Dallas Police Chief David Brown and Mike Rawlings, Dallas Meyer.
“All this has to stop,” David Brown said with a heavy tone to which Mike Rawlings added, “I am a man of faith and believe in prayers.” One could hear the grief in his voice. He made an announcement for a multifaith unity prayer service at noon time to pay respects for the fallen police officers. Then he added, “Join us from wherever possible, your home, office, anywhere.”
I suddenly realized that my breakfast was still untouched and my coffee was cold, as I was glued to the TV. I had to get on moving with the day.
NBC’s Willie Geist just finished talking about Dallas victims and then there was an awkward silence for a moment. Everyone was quiet.
I guess, it was Dylan Dreyer’s turn then. I could see her struggle as she was trying to get out of emotions and sadness. For a moment I thought she is going to cry.
Dylan cleared her voice and uttered, “As a journalist, it is always difficult to change a serious subject to a funny one, but we all need to smile,” she insisted that we all must smile as she introduces the new topic.
It was a story of a cute little 9 year old girl, Dylan started to share. This girl recently received a Frozen themed prosthetic arm. Her face was glowing with a fully blown smile and I could feel her joy being treated like a Disney princess. Such little things matter so much in our lives!
All this finally seem to have broken the silence in the NBC newsroom a little bit.
“Have you seen Frozen?” Dylan was asking other members on the Today’s show. Willie said immediately that he actually avoided going for this movie, because he knew that he will be watching it over and over again with his kids. How could a person not watch such a beautiful Disney movie? He sounded more like my husband, who is not that much fond of Disney movies. I have to drag my husband many times with me to see such beautiful movies.
In my mind, I am already thinking of watching Frozen again. I even texted my husband to tell him about Frozen, as I started eating my breakfast.
The NBC crew continued to cover the rest of news items and all fun stuff, as I was taking last few sips of my coffee.
What wonders me the most is the challenges these journalists face day to day. They are humans too, but they bear the responsibility to entertain their viewers as they cover stories about such tragic events. It requires skills to make people smile.
Kudos to NBC Today morning team and special thanks to Dylan Dreyer to make me smile!
Sandy Kulkarni
Sandy.kulkarni108@gmail.com