My dear peeps: Today’s posting is about courage.
First, let me say you shouldn’t have to do a thing you’re afraid of twice. Maybe you shouldn’t have to do a thing you’re afraid of once, but surely not twice. Police officers, however, have to gather up their courage to face their fears over and over and over again.
I’m talking about courage today because I have to gird my loins again and climb my extension ladder once more because half the outdoor Christmas lights I hung on the back of the house yesterday aren’t working. I swear the lights were all working when I plugged them in to check them out before climbing up the ladder, but as soon as I finished hanging them I discovered that half of one string wasn’t lit. What’s up with that?
I don’t know about you, but I have a fear of heights - always have had. Don’t know why except that I remember my mother saying once that my high chair was tipped over by the pet dog when I was a baby. I wouldn’t even let Sam near my ladder yesterday, even though he’s hardly big enough to tip it over. I just left him in the house where he could watch me through the patio door and yap at me.
I’m extremely nervous on ladders. I have fallen off them several times and I’m not nearly as sure of foot and as well balanced as I used to be (you kind of suspected I was a little off balance didn’t you?). One time I was way up on an extension ladder painting the side of a two-story house and the ladder decided to slide all the way down the wall to the ground with me on it. I landed on top of the ladder and several really thorny bushes. I only sustained minor scratching, but that was not fun. Another time I should have been killed when a step ladder crumpled on me and I fell sideways and hit my head so hard on a concrete sidewalk I don’t know how I didn’t at least fracture my skull. I probably sustained a concussion but just shook it off and went back to work.
Now this has been kind of a convoluted way to get around to saying how much Sam and I admire the courage a couple of cops showed this holiday season. I was a cop for awhile, so I know how much courage it takes to trust people, even the homeless and disenfranchised. But a cop in New York bought a homeless guy who had no shoes a pair of warm boots the other day. That cop had no way of knowing if the guy was homeless or if he was a felon on the run or anything like that. The cop just saw that the man needed help.
Another cop in Texas pulled a guy over for expired registration tabs on his license plates and after hearing that the guy was out of work and had a family and couldn’t afford to pay for his vehicle registration, the cop wrapped a $100 bill in the ticket.
WOW! I am so impressed with those two coops. In my estimation, they showed extraordinary courage and should receive medals. I can attest that it’s all too easy to become unfeeling, even brutal (Seattle police) when dealing with “civilians” (what we used to call citizens) day in and day out. Most cops lose any feelings of compassion toward others after awhile.
Two bags of poop on having to show courage when we don’t want to, but kudos to courageous humanitarian acts - even if they are performed by cops.
First, let me say you shouldn’t have to do a thing you’re afraid of twice. Maybe you shouldn’t have to do a thing you’re afraid of once, but surely not twice. Police officers, however, have to gather up their courage to face their fears over and over and over again.
I’m talking about courage today because I have to gird my loins again and climb my extension ladder once more because half the outdoor Christmas lights I hung on the back of the house yesterday aren’t working. I swear the lights were all working when I plugged them in to check them out before climbing up the ladder, but as soon as I finished hanging them I discovered that half of one string wasn’t lit. What’s up with that?
I don’t know about you, but I have a fear of heights - always have had. Don’t know why except that I remember my mother saying once that my high chair was tipped over by the pet dog when I was a baby. I wouldn’t even let Sam near my ladder yesterday, even though he’s hardly big enough to tip it over. I just left him in the house where he could watch me through the patio door and yap at me.
I’m extremely nervous on ladders. I have fallen off them several times and I’m not nearly as sure of foot and as well balanced as I used to be (you kind of suspected I was a little off balance didn’t you?). One time I was way up on an extension ladder painting the side of a two-story house and the ladder decided to slide all the way down the wall to the ground with me on it. I landed on top of the ladder and several really thorny bushes. I only sustained minor scratching, but that was not fun. Another time I should have been killed when a step ladder crumpled on me and I fell sideways and hit my head so hard on a concrete sidewalk I don’t know how I didn’t at least fracture my skull. I probably sustained a concussion but just shook it off and went back to work.
Now this has been kind of a convoluted way to get around to saying how much Sam and I admire the courage a couple of cops showed this holiday season. I was a cop for awhile, so I know how much courage it takes to trust people, even the homeless and disenfranchised. But a cop in New York bought a homeless guy who had no shoes a pair of warm boots the other day. That cop had no way of knowing if the guy was homeless or if he was a felon on the run or anything like that. The cop just saw that the man needed help.
Another cop in Texas pulled a guy over for expired registration tabs on his license plates and after hearing that the guy was out of work and had a family and couldn’t afford to pay for his vehicle registration, the cop wrapped a $100 bill in the ticket.
WOW! I am so impressed with those two coops. In my estimation, they showed extraordinary courage and should receive medals. I can attest that it’s all too easy to become unfeeling, even brutal (Seattle police) when dealing with “civilians” (what we used to call citizens) day in and day out. Most cops lose any feelings of compassion toward others after awhile.
Two bags of poop on having to show courage when we don’t want to, but kudos to courageous humanitarian acts - even if they are performed by cops.
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