Hey doc. Have you ever read any Joseph Wambaugh? Just curious. He's the major reason I don't condemn the men in blue. Yes, I've never done the job, but that doesn't make me unsympathetic or unwilling to learn. I'd actually rather enjoy having some police friends in personal life, just so I could pick their brain for story ideas.
My forte is not doing this tough job of law enforcement. My forte is educating people to the themes of the human condition as a poet. I think a lot of police get jaded because for the most part, all they ever see is the dark side of human nature.
I would just like to remind them, and everyone, that that's not all there is to people.
People have an enormous capacity for nobility and compassion as well. I think an even harder job than wearing blue is wearing the uniform of a fire-fighter or EMT, because that exposes these people to an enormous amount of just plain random suffering, and I think these people are the tops for every day expanding their capacity for compassion in the face of the enormous and indifferent forces of Nature itself.
Whatever deity that may or may not be true, bless all of you in your daily journey through this vale of ignorance and pain.
It's a hard and thankless job. I'm not knocking the police who do their best to be professional and do the job. I'm knocking the police who think that wearing a badge makes them better, more moral, and less prone to temptation.
Wearing blue doesn't make you Superman. It just makes you a man (or woman) with a tough job.
When I have to call the police, and granted that's a rare occurrence when I can't handle a situation myself, I give them all the respect and cooperation I can. They're just people doing a very hard job.
What I don't like is the bored officer that doesn't like my look so he pulls me over to make sure I'm not doing anything "wrong".
And then he wants to search me. Since when is breathing grounds for probable cause?
I don't blame the police as much as I blame the law-makers. They just enforce the laws they're handed.
Here's a true story. I used to live right on a main thoroughfare here in PDX. I was sitting on my porch one night and I counted 32 patrol cars whizzing by code two, lights flashing but no sirens. Here I am thinking, jeez a major terrorist event, or a bank robbery, or something.
10 minutes later, I had to cruise down that same street for a reason I can't recall. All the cruisers were at Krispy Kreme. Was it being robbed? No, they were having a sale on day old donuts.
Seriously, I think Obama needs to read some Machiavelli. The new Prince will have his supporters and his detractors. I think he needs to learn a bit from the Karl Rove playbook and then the conservatives will think he's all peachy.
That's been done for the last 8 years, and sadly, is still being done by the new boss. I don't knock people for not liking Obama. I didn't like Bush. I'm not all that impressed with the "messiah" either, but, unlike Bush, he was elected.
And before you go off saying, well, Bush was elected too, um, three words, Jeb Bush & Florida.
Another quote from Vietnam: Fighting a war for peace is like f^%$ing for virginity.
Funny how Christian Imperialism can justify any atrocity in the name of spreading the faith. Purifying the world by turning it to ashes seems just about the conservative speed.
Welcome to the New Crusades, and damn anyone who would prefer a world of peace and respect to one of war and acrimony.
She asked me what I meant by love, I told her I couldn't say But that she'd know What I meant by the End of that day.
I walked with her Along the beach, Our hands entwined My eyes were kind And had a look that No one else would see. A look that Was only for her And would only Come from me.
There was a flower On the path, orange An Orchid, I think I picked and put it In her hair and said It needed her to make It beautiful, that It was lifeless Without her grace, And then I kissed her on the lips, and kissed the tears from her face.
Galactic_bodhi Forum Posts (9,196)
RE: What do you think about the Police?
Hey doc. Have you ever read any Joseph Wambaugh? Just curious. He's the major reason I don't condemn the men in blue. Yes, I've never done the job, but that doesn't make me unsympathetic or unwilling to learn. I'd actually rather enjoy having some police friends in personal life, just so I could pick their brain for story ideas.My forte is not doing this tough job of law enforcement. My forte is educating people to the themes of the human condition as a poet. I think a lot of police get jaded because for the most part, all they ever see is the dark side of human nature.
I would just like to remind them, and everyone, that that's not all there is to people.
People have an enormous capacity for nobility and compassion as well. I think an even harder job than wearing blue is wearing the uniform of a fire-fighter or EMT, because that exposes these people to an enormous amount of just plain random suffering, and I think these people are the tops for every day expanding their capacity for compassion in the face of the enormous and indifferent forces of Nature itself.
Whatever deity that may or may not be true, bless all of you in your daily journey through this vale of ignorance and pain.