At a Tuesday memorial service, President Obama delved into the life stories of each of the five officers killed in last week's shooting in Dallas. He noted that Lorne Ahrens "bought dinner for a homeless man" the night before he died, that Michael Krol "came a thousand miles from his home state of Michigan to be a cop in Dallas," that Michael Smith was a "man of faith," that Patrick Zamarripa “dreamed of being a cop," and that Brent Thompson had married his wife just two weeks ago and had "their whole life together waiting before them."
As mournful as Obama was for each of the five lives lost, he also maintained hope that the country could recover from this tragedy and others that have recently struck the country. To those Americans feeling "as if the deepest fault lines of our democracy have been exposed and even widened," Obama said, "I'm here to say we must reject such despair. I'm here to insist that we are not as divided as we seem."
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