http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html
An officer does his duty to 'serve and protect' and next thing he knows the chief law enforcement officer of the country tells the world this officer acted 'stupidly.' I guess just saying 'Thank You' doesn't get you your 15 minutes of fame.
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Monday marks 8-years since my mother passed away. To this day I still feel anger and
a) blame myself for calling an ambulance instead of driving her to the hospital myself - maybe she would have been ok with faster treatment.
b) blame our emergency medical service - they took WAY TOO LONG to get here and WAY TOO LONG to get to the hospital - even with the attendant in the back telling the driver to hurry. AND I had to tell the driver how to get to the hospital. Then mother 'coded' in the parking lot before they could get her inside. Three days later she was gone.
I had a wonderful mother. I need to be able to just say 'Thank You' and move on. I had much to be thankful for where my mother was concerned.
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My daughter celebrated a birthday this week. We don't always see eye-to-eye and there are many times I feel bad about where we are. I need to step back and just be thankful for what I do have.
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It's not always easy to do the right thing - even when we know in our heart that it IS the right thing. We lose sight of the 'keep it simple' philosophy and complicate matters way too much. I really feel it's important, though, to not complicate things to the point we can no longer see why we should be thankful and acknowledge such.
I have countless blessings in my life and very few difficulties. It's easy to take those blessings for granted and focus on the difficulties. What I term difficult would actually be embarrassing in light of what so many others face daily. I am truly BLESSED and I pray I will always be able to see all that I have to be thankful for and FOCUS on that.
3 comments:
Good questions...ones I asked, too.
I can be an emotionally reactive person and often won't post too much that would be controversial in case I don't have all the information. This I checked out as thoroughly as I know how - both sides (and there seems to be little argument over the events).
The police officers responding to the 911 call wrote those reports.
I was not there, however, this was a very public incident with neighborhood witnesses and local as well as campus police at the scene.
Thankfully I have never been arrested - on my property or otherwise.
This arrest had nothing to do with property. The man was creating a public disturbance OUTSIDE IN THE PUBLIC after being asked multiple times to calm down. He was out of control. He said the officer didn't know who he was messing with - I guess he's more special than the rest of us - not held to the same standards of conduct.
The officer's record is clear and he has been declared exemplary by his superiors. He conducts training concerning racial profiling for the force. He performed CPR on a black athlete to try to save his life. Racism? People can be jerks regardless of their race, religion or ethnicity. It's a basic human thing.
Getting home from a trip to China, probably exhausted, the man tries to get into his (Harvard-owned) home and finds the door won't open - he enlists the help of his cab driver to gain entrance - yes, breaking in - as most of us would do. I believe he reacted to the officer's presence out of frustration, exhaustion and anger over the stuck door - rather than from calm, sensible, thoughful manner of finding an officer at his home investigating a call concerning two men attempting to break in to the home.
Added to all of this is the unusual responses from the professor to the officer's inquiries...who else was in the home (he was told there were two people - were there 2 other people and this man was unaware they were there or was a 2nd one in the home perhaps robbing it, etc), the profressor wouldn't provide answers or any type of identification showing his address. The only ID the professor presented showed him to be employed by Harvard - but again no address to indicate he was actually in his own home.
In the Federal Government of the United States, the Attorney General is a member of the Cabinet and as head of the Department of Justice is the top law enforcement officer and lawyer for the government. A position appointed by the president. This, in my opinion, is splitting hairs. I believe the point was understood.
I would not put myself in the position of presuming to know others' blessings or misfortunes. I do believe, however, that we, as American people living the type of lives we do, find the scales tipped more in favor of our blessings than our misfortunes. Please note I am stating 'most' and not 'all.'
I have no idea, beyond what you've stated here, of what you might be facing now. It sounds painful and devastating and my heart breaks for you. Your tone came across to me as angry and hateful. I'm sorry it disturbs you for me to publicly remind myself, and perhaps others in the process, to remember and be thankful for all the good that is in my life.
All through my life you were my rock; the devoted big brother and I the adoring little sister. You were the most stable father-figure I had. We loved each other through thick and thin - good times and bad, album swaps, roller-derby, all sorts of relationships, etc. You know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that I would never feel blessed by any misfortune that came your way.
Not anger, just resignation.
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