I sit here on the porch with the rain coming down (finally, we needed it!) with a great cigar and some excellent scotch. End of the week and time to take a little time to myself. Had some experiences in the last 24 hours and it's time to take it in.
Just got my paper in for the class I'm taking. I'm going for my master's in Intelligence Studies, focusing on homeland security. Spent the better part of three days last week finishing it and thankfully I had someone who knows how to edit check the grammar. Got it turned in with an hour to spare and these comments: "Done at Last! Done at Last! Thank God Almighty! Done at Last1"
Checked the scoreboard and I'm still holding an A in the class. Only ten more classes to go! As one major I used to work for said, "L.T., you eat the elephant one bite at a time."
And a bit more serious matter and by brothers and sisters in blue can relate. Got to spend four hours last night at the scene of a tragedy. Two kids, smoking weed at the house. One takes a gun and shoots himself. Dead at sixteen.
Spent the hours looking it over but it doesn't look like anything but a tragedy. An officer had to go to the house and tell the parents their child was injured and they needed to get to the hospital. The cop honestly didn't know the details of the incident or the kid's condition, just the child was injured. I can't fathom something worse for any human being than burying a child. I've seen my father put to rest and at some point I will see my mother laid to rest. That may not be pleasant, but it is right. The circle of life, a child should bury their parent. A parent should never bury their kid. God please be with that family as they go on without their child.
I guess this job makes a man a little detached. I've seen bodies of adults shot to pieces, burned to death, simply died from old age or disease. But to see a kid with their life ahead of themselves gone by an accident, it can get to you. One of my friends worked in a pre-natal intensive care unit and we sometimes discuss it. I've only been in there once, visiting one of my soldiers who had a delivery almost three months early. I really needed a drink after ten minutes in there. See babies the size of a fist struggling to make it to the end of the day, then to the beginning of the next day.
When my girls say "That's not fair!", my answer is usually "Don't use that four letter F word in this house!" Life is not fair. I think of my friends who's girl survived being born early and say "Thank You God", not at all in jest. I just hope He will be with that family who planning on their child't high school and now has to plan a funeral.
As I take another sip of twelve year old and another puff of my cigar, I contemplate why I love this job. Every cop is asked this question in one form or another: "Why did you become a cop?" My answer is I always wanted to be in the middle of it all, being order to disorder, handing the worse life has to offer. And driving fast, carrying a gun, all that fun stuff, that's the gravy. But last night was the bitter side. It comes with the job. If you can't handle it, don't put on the badge.
We are the guards who oversee the orderly function of society. Unfortunately, police get to deal with the bad times as a rule, some worse than others.
To everyone, especially my brothers and sisters in blue, give the family another hug tonight knowing they are safe and say a prayer for a family who has lost everything this weekend.
Let's hope for a better week, be safe out there and God bless you all!
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