Okay are y'all sober enough to hear what I'm going to say and not jump down my throat about it? I held off weighing in on this thread last night because it seamed like there was probably some intoxication going on.
Having a "job" is a basic need - you have to have food, a place to live, etc etc. If you have a kid, this is more so - extra food costs, clothes for school, random things they want to do, etc. A "job" is nothing more than what you do to make money - and yes in this sense I will include illegal activities such as selling drugs or prostituting or what have you. A "career" is about what you want to spend the rest of your life doing, what you see yourself doing until you retire. Being a cop or a fireman or a EMT or a Soldier or whatever, to some it's a "job". Those are the ones who last at max 10 years and then book it on outta there. Those are the ones who are out making bogus stops on black people because they're black. Those are the ones who join the Army for the college education - there's nothing wrong with that, of course, but that means the Army isn't their career.
I've wanted to be a cop since I was little, for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are pretending to arrest someone with my fake handcuffs. After 9/11, though, I got a strong sense to serve my country. The military was always an option that I had weighed, but never seriously considered. So I joined the Army, and set out to make a career of being a Soldier, but also of being an MP. And so thus far, I have. Eleven years and still going strong after 5 deployments, 2 bullets, 300+ combat patrols, thousands of times of manning a .50 cal on a Humvee. Thousands of arrests, probably less then twenty tickets, but more importantly, hundreds of people I've gotten to know and help.
Overseas, the MP plays the role of a split persona. Sometimes we're infantry, out to kick some ass. Sometimes we're defenders, sometimes we're ambassadors. I've been into villages to help rebuild houses, and I've arrested AWOL Soldiers. I've given chocolate to scared little kids because they remind me of my own son. Combat is not exactly my favorite activity in the World, but I've loved my eleven years of serving. I like to hope and think that to someone somewhere in the World, I've made a difference. And that is what being a COP is all about.
No, we don't always agree with the laws. But if you 're like me, you probably didn't become a cop for the power trip of enforcing the law. You became a cop for the hope to make a difference. To try and make the World a better place to live in. And some of us honestly can say that we have and that we will continue to do so. Right now, being a cop isn't exactly the most readily liked position, because of the actions of a select few. I remember growing up playing street hockey and the local police/sheriff's deputies came cruising through the neighborhood and they'd stop and play with us. We as a country need to go back to that. I wish that every single cop in this country would go out into their community, leave their gun, their pepper spray, their tazer, their baton in their cruiser and go have fun with the community that they are supposed to protect and serve.
I don't agree that marijuana should be illegal. But society does, and so, I will do my job and enforce that law. That doesn't mean I might be more lenient because of it, sure, I might. But a lot of that too comes from how you approach me. If you're a douchebag about it, guess what? You're probably going to get what the law says you should get. If you're cool with me, I'm going to be cool with you. On the flip side of the same coin, if you wanted help, I would personally take you to an addiction counselor or program because that is my career. See the difference?
Just some food for your brains.
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