Donald Ray Surrett Jr
A LIFE WELL LIVED
I worked in dozens of grocery stores for over 40 years. I started at 16 as a bagger, became a clean up boy, served a meat cutter apprenticeship, then managed. I have seen fist fights, stealing, medical emergencies, felony arrests, robberies, boycotts, people having sex or using the sales floor as a bathroom but I never feared for my life.
I did work in a few dangerous neighborhoods where the owners brandished guns on a regular basis. Customers would threaten to retaliate but there was a sense of order to it, at least you were aware something could happen.
One store was firebombed at night, another was struck by lightening about ten feet from where we were working while standing on a wet floor and a pickup truck crashed through the front windows into the cash registers and sales floor only moments before we opened.
Working in a bad neighborhood, by a busy highway or during severe weather at least gives you a heads up that you could be in danger but a store in quiet Bend Oregon on a sunny Sunday afternoon it never enters your mind.
I took my scooter about two blocks to our local busy Safeway around 6 o'clock. I have shopped there at least a hundred times. After 40 years of working in a grocery store, needless to say grocery stores creep me out.
I want to straighten meat cases, write up slacker employees and yell at rude customers, but I refuse to be that old guy telling the young clerks stories about the good old days, I made fun of them when I was a young guy.
I did notice Mr Surret because he was retirement age but I never had a direct conversation with him. I said hello or nodded a few times but he was a head down worker going about his business.
For months only a short distance from the store a young man was plotting a mass shooting. He posted his twisted manifesto on line then headed for the unsuspecting neighborhood store.
Around 7 PM dozens of gunshots rang out as he approached the entrance where Glenn Edward Bennett, 84 was killed.
Before this all happened I returned home, had dinner and watched some television. I had ignored my phone most of the day but I finally noticed a string of messages from worried friends concerned about the shooting.
As the story played out it was revealed that Mr Surret had made a fatal attempt to disarm the evil murdering asshole. Instead of hiding to save his own life he waited for an opening to attack the gunman with his produce work knife.
Mr Surret was fatally shot but the attack was stopped. It might have been a mortal knife wound or the approach of the police but the gunman died of a self inflicted wound probably to avoid arrest. Link
All of the details haven't been revealed as I write this but the investigating police are calling Mr Surret a hero. Whatever happened Mr Surret saved lives at the cost of his own.
The store is still closed, the scary gun people are blaming the guns, memorials are being planned, the peaceful neighborhood has been violated but I'm focused on Mr Surret's selfless act.
My hope is that I could be that brave to lay down my life for strangers.
Rest in peace Donald Ray Surret Jr you have lived a well lived life.
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"Let no good deed go unpunished. "
Oscar Wilde
Days later some cub reporter dug up Mr Surret's criminal past. They characterized him as a child molester. He did serve time in the military for a level one offense which is defined as....
Level 1 or Tier I offenses are the lowest level of sex offenses. These typically involve non-violent sex offenses with people who are not minors. People who are convicted of Tier 1 sex offenses must register on the Sexual Offender Registry for at least 15 years and report for verification annually.
I'm not excusing his criminal past I don't know or need to know the details but framing it in the worse possible way after his passing is mean, unnecessary and irresponsible. Mr Surret must have paid his debt to society and lived a respectful life, what on earth does this story accomplish other than a shocking headline and clicks. That is why I'm not including a link.
They fill the headline with shock words and provide no specifics which leads the reader to assume the worse. They say he "Did not serve his full sentence" how about the context?....What was the reason he was released early?.....Was this unusual or normal policy?....Was he honorably discharged?.....Did he comply with Oregon law?
What is the point of bringing this out? Perhaps an in-depth look at a murderer's past and home life would be more appropriate but in my opinion I would not give this evil lost soul any more attention or fame. I just can not understand why any person with any sense of decency would dig up this crap about a man who risked his life for others? The writer an the editors need to check their tabloid journalism skills and get some common sense.
Out of all of the negative in today's world why tarnish the memory of a man doing something brave and selfless?
