I knew there would be a second part to Paul Harvey Had It Right.
I just didn't think it'd take this long. Or BE this long.
I was waiting on some information to be made public before sharing more opinions, but it is taking longer than I had anticipated, so just know that there could be a Part Three. That's all.
Before my head explodes, I'll dump what has been collecting there these past couple months regarding law enforcement.
If you are here and have yet to read my previous post, please take the time to go back and read it. It's not full of accurate statistics or deep, moving, well-thought-out arguments. It's simply a perspective.
Growing up, I had a lot of respect for my uncle who served as a DEC officer. Though I never knew exactly what he did on a day to day basis, I knew the essence of his work. One day, as I sat up in the window watching him train his beautiful (yet scary!) K-9, I started to really wonder about the nature of his job. When he came inside, I met him at the door with my questions.
"What did you do at work today? Where did you go? Was it hard work? Who taught you how to do your work?"
He grinned.
In a deep, uncle voice, he answered.
"Well, first I yelled at some kids in a boat."
gasp!
My uncle yelled at some kids?! Why? Ugh. What did they do? He shouldn't YELL!
My heart sank. I never knew this about my uncle.
I challenged him.
"You shouldn't yell at kids in boats. They are big kids and they don't need life jackets. I don't even need a life jacket 'cuz I'm big now," I insisted with a confident little nod.
He sat down and pulled me up on his knee. He looked me straight in the eye, paused until he had my full attention and said
"Those kids were in a boat without life jackets. They were drinking booze and acting stupid and there were just too many of them for a boat that size. I yelled at them to scare them. I would rather scare them now than dive for their bodies later."
Huh.
My uncle dove for bodies?
What did drinking booze and acting stupid have to do with drowning?
Drowning is for people who can't swim!
Did he actually yell or does he mean he just scolded them?
And what IS booze, anyway?
I slid down from his lap to go play, temporarily satisfied with his answer.
Fast forward about 10 years
I'm in a car, heading to prom with a friend and another couple.
We get pulled over. A state trooper walks up to the car and questions my friend, Jim, who was driving. "Do you know how fast you were going?" Ahh, the famous question!
I was suddenly quite curious to hear the answer.
Jim admitted that he actually had no idea how fast he was driving.
He went on to explain that his mom had let us borrow her new car for prom and it rode "really smooth" compared to his jalopy truck. He confessed that he was probably going "way too fast".
"77 in a 55, to be exact."
I was shocked. It hadn't felt 77. I wasn't scared or nervous about Jim's speed or his driving.
It wasn't reckless.
But the fact is, he was breaking the law.
The trooper bent down and looked past Jim straight at me.
"You look beautiful. I'm sure you spent a lot of time curling your hair and putting on that make-up. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not be back out here later scraping your dead body off the pavement."
Before he walked away, he looked back at Jim and in a stern voice said, "Slow down."
Not one word from anyone the rest of the ride.
The trooper's words rang over and over in my mind.
"...scraping your dead body..."
"...scraping your dead body..."
"...scraping your dead body..."
It didn't feel like a selfish request.
It didn't feel like unnecessary drama.
It felt exactly like-
a warning.
A warning we should heed.
A warning with weight and pull and meaning.
A warning from someone who actually SEES SUCH THINGS.
Who even sees dead bodies on pavement?
That guy.
And I don't.
And neither do you.
Again, I'm not saying there aren't issues in our country with abuse of power or that every officer of the law has integrity or is a prime example of how every citizen should walk. Of course those issues exist. But maybe before we wildly debate and form strong opinions about all officers of the law, we should open our eyes and ears to the wisdom in hearing both sides of the story. Gain perspective by studying natural law and what you believe about that theory. Gain perspective by making an effort to find out what they really do day in and day out, as opposed to clinging to a CNN headline or your traumatizing cell phone ticket experience. Listen to a scanner app on your phone. Hear the calls that come in. Heart-attacks, robberies, rapes, home invasions, drug overdoses, domestic abuse situations, hit & run, on goes the list. Be thankful that should you ever find yourself a victim of such things, you have someone ready and willing to come to your aid.
An interesting piece you should read.
At this point, I guess I just feel like I can support the police profession without cheering on the conduct of every single officer.
Just because I don't allow my children to complain about or blame the referees from their game, doesn't mean I agreed with every single call.
After the game, my children will find them, look them in the eye, shake their hand and say, "Thank you".
How much more someone who risks their life to preserve order in society.
Just my opinion.
