While divisive rhetoric from politicos and others continues across the country, public safety professionals, smack dab in the middle of all the needless nonsense, continue to show up and give it their all…on behalf of everyone, regardless.
Recently, we witnessed not only elected officials but also those deemed “elitists” at the cauldrons, embracing racial divides instead of resolute unity, casually justifying it all…as if everyone should see things only through their lenses. They continue to serve a toxic tonic brewed by devilish ideations marketed via power bestowed by the voter base. Despite the boxes checked on Election Day, none of this bodes well for all citizens whose unsafe conditions outside their windows are anything but comfy.
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Peter Burka.)
“Defund the police,” they barked. “Abolish the police,” they demanded. “End prisons,” they ordered. Tsk tsk tsk…
In an article titled “The party is over for Mayor Adams,” New York Post reporter Steve Cuozzo opined that those among leftist governance “promote policies that yield more street crime because they want more street crime to substantiate their faith that American society is irredeemably racist and violent.” If accurate, that also implies a severe depletion of spiritual principles.
This compelled me to reminisce about the public safety roles and the men and women who fill them, working together for a common cause and the good of all, too many perishing in the life-preserving process, despite the anti-this and anti-that war drums banging relentlessly.
(Photo courtesy of the New York State Police.)
Nevertheless, first responders forging forward against the grain and putting up with the guff is commendable and a testament to convictions for goodness, no matter the ugly harangues constantly flashing across their eyes and filling their ears. Still, they fulfill oath-based vows.
As a policeman, I’ve been called a litany of spicy language stemming from my pigmentation. Similarly, I’ve overheard foul-mouthed law-breaking individuals castigate police colleagues whose pigment was different than their own…as well as the same hue. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”
Professional first responders inherently stabilize against that brand of hatred, like rain on a duck’s back—it rolls right off. Paddle on. Akin to Teflon—stickiness is defeated.
It takes highly trained, determined professionals whose demeanors are well-balanced to focus on the mission and see it through to the end, unjaded by untruths imposed by others who are poorly reacting out of insecurities. Again, first responders carry on the good fight.
Look at many recent encounters involving members of the NYPD and you will see an illustration of what we are discussing today: The guff flung at cops nowadays is none shy of barbaric coldness and carelessness, with some police officers wearing thin…exposed on their faces while engaged in often-virtual combat-like situations. But, they forge on.
On the heels of reading several of many accounts of the Boston mayor’s “Electeds of Color” holiday party, a bevy of illustrations depicting public safety people of varying races poured across social media channels, again reassuring us that what government figureheads want us to believe is patently false.
Cops are not the problem! Despite being told they are, each selfless member gravitates to the frontlines where perpetuated mayhem awaits, training for battles.
Even in inclement weather days ahead of Christmas, cadets were out getting running reps, led by academy instructors and escorted by someone dressed in Santa garb, cheering on the diehard efforts of future first responders. I pondered that scene…grateful for each of these courageous souls entering an ominous occupation with the fortitude of salmon swimming upstream, against the tide, unrelenting until the pinnacle is reached.
The same goes for our brothers/sisters in the fire/rescue agencies. They, too, are encountering perils: besides fire, hateful humans have been assaulting firefighters and paramedics, so much so that some agencies have authored policies regarding service members wearing protective body armor (ballistic vests).
Like peanut butter and jelly, police and fire/rescue personnel working city streets are effective alone or intertwined—it is immutable. Public safety pros rely on one another in every call for service where both are needed.
From our friends at Prepared To Fight Fire, we witness another class of fire academy recruits enduring rigorous training and conditioning, shedding some blood, sweat, and tears…to ensure mission success.
(Photo courtesy of Prepared To Fight Fire.)
Even if the residential dwellings and commercial structures are engulfed beyond salvation and reduced to ash, firefighters and cops who support efforts extinguishing conflagrations do so after all life is saved, including their own.
When I was a cadet in the police academy, the law enforcement training facility was next to the county fire academy. On breaks from defensive tactics and mock traffic stops and emergency vehicle operations training, etc., our class of police cadets would watch the future firefighters do their thing.
All that separated our training facility from theirs was a chain-link fence.
In real-life instances, police and fire personnel are on the same scene but with different purposes. On-the-job interactions always clicked, dawning on me that they were likely gleaning our police training in-kind, bolstered by common sense mindsets.
The bottom line is that every public safety professional gives it their all, even in antithetical climates that chronically discourage the human spirit from keeping going. For each of these, we stand as pillars of support, with riches of respect and reliance.