Can't We Just Get Along?

When I write a new posting I try to make an articulate, dispassionate argument for my position.  I try not to let emotion take over because some will use that as way of delegitimizing my position and an excuse not to debate or present an opposing opinion.  As I was driving home from work I heard a story on the news that made me decide to throw all that out the window.

I believe in God and Jesus Christ, not because that’s what was drummed into me as a child at Sunday school, my belief is because of things that I have witnessed during my life.  I have friends, coworkers, and neighbors, acquaintances of all faiths, and some that have no spiritual beliefs.  If I hadn’t just mentioned my belief in God and Jesus Christ many of you reading this would have no idea, it’s not my thing to “wear my religion on my sleeve”, some of the biggest hypocrites I’ve ever met professed to the world their beliefs!  My belief doesn’t make me better than those that have other beliefs/ faiths, and it doesn’t make me better than those that choose not to belief, it happens to work for me.

I also believe that part of being a good citizen is to try to help others less fortunate than me, also to be tolerant of others.  We are all equal, no one is better than another.  Unfortunately such philosophy is often taken as a sign of weakness, an excuse to be rude, obnoxious, and disrespectful.  After all if I truly believe I will turn the other cheek.  I have two things to say to that;

1.       WRONG!!!!!!!!

2.       ENOUGH!!!!!!!

I mentioned listening to the news and hearing a story that prompted this, the article dealt with the Ground Zero museum that is about to open.  An Atheist group has filed suit to prevent the opening until an artifact is removed because its shape resembles a Christian cross and having such a display will violate the separation of church and state. 

People of faith have to be respectful of an atheist’s non belief, people of faith have to be sensitive to an atheist’s feelings, and be quiet as an atheist’s group makes demands that their belief, or non beliefs are jammed down everyone else’s throat.  I say NO!  I am sick of being told that I have to accept and be happy about my being disrespected or my beliefs being ridiculed, I don’t deserve the same respect that I am being demanded to give someone else.

The separation of church and state does not say what this group claims, one religion is not being promoted over another!  I’m sure that someone will cite Supreme Court rulings that say they’re right and I’m wrong, however, the Supreme Court is not always right (just ask Dred Scott).  No one went out and built a cross to be placed in the museum to demonstrate that Christian beliefs are the better or correct belief. 

Politically correct has become a justification and excuse to claim that “my” beliefs, and therefore “me”, are better than you.  It is a justification for not doing “my” part, “my” fair share as a member of this community.  How about we STOP looking for a reason/ excuse to be a victim and start just being a good citizen.  It is our diversity that makes this country great; it should be embraced, not distorted for our individual agenda.

Instead of trying to impose one philosophy on others let’s acknowledge that we all have the ability, and right to believe what we choose.  Don’t do something deliberately to spark a reaction from those of a different philosophy.  More will be accomplished by working with one another instead of against each other.  I have a unique idea, instead of “running” right away to court to get satisfaction, how about just talking to one another.

 In this age of political correctness we have forgotten that respect is earned, it is earned by our actions not our station in life.  It’s about time to once again place a priority on being a good neighbor, good citizen, good friend, instead of being politically correct.

Two final thoughts for the group that filed the lawsuit and those that support that action;

1.       Not all atheists agree with your action, and

2.       If I was too harsh, or hurt your feelings, I can pray for forgiveness.  What will you do for insulting me?

That’s My Opinion, What’s Yours

We Need To Take A Deep Breath!

When the Casey Anthony trial ended last week I gave some thought to writing an article but then decided against it.  There were already enough people, so called experts, sharing their “expertise”, trying to start a new career just as some did following the Simpson murder trial a decade and a half earlier.

In my law enforcement job one of my duties is to review electronic communications that are received by my agency that the system has segregated because of a potential threat.  After a week of reviewing communications generated by the trial (and verdict), listening and watching media interviews, and observations I’ve made I decided to sit down and draft this.  However, I’m not going to talk about the trial, there are more than enough “experts” doing that already.  The only thing I will say is that my friends and law enforcement coworkers (past and present) that I’ve spoken with were not surprised at the Not Guilty verdict on First Degree Murder.  This trial has put a light on our society that we may not like, that makes us uncomfortable, and that may cause us to address just what is happening in order that we change for the better.  People have a right to be angry and feel frustrated because a child has died and there is not an explanation.  It is how we react and how we react that is the real issue.

First and foremost people need to stop threatening and being hostile towards the jurors!  With the exception of one, none of them wanted to serve on that jury.  Despite not wanting to be there, being isolated from their family, friends, familiar surroundings they served.  Agree or disagree with their decision all you want, but acknowledge the fact that they made it.  And before you say that you would have made a different decision remember that there was a lot of information that we saw on TV that they were not allowed to hear, they were out of the room.  If you still know that there is no way you would have done what they did, think about the time(s) you received a subpoena for jury duty.  Did you serve or did you try to find a way to get out of it?  If you served, thank you for your service.  If you haven’t served I hope your still as civic minded the next time you receive a subpoena.

People have been writing my agency expressing, demanding that Casey Anthony be put on trial again and again until a jury finally gets it right.  Others want to blame “the system”, we have to find someone or something to blame besides ourselves.  The United States judicial system isn’t perfect.  BELIEVE ME after being a law enforcement officer for over thirty years I can vouch for that, but it’s much better having a system where your are presumed innocent until proven guilty instead of the other way.  There are those that have claimed to have been “railroaded”, and there have been actual cases of innocent people being convicted of a crime.  What do you think would happen if the burden of proof was on you the accused to prove your innocent, I for one don’t want to experience a system of Guilty until proven innocent.

Like I said the system isn’t perfect, none is, but instead of dismantling what we’ve spent over two hundred and thirty years building, how about improving upon what we have.  Regardless of what we do, we the society need to also take a look at our expectations and perceptions.  Yes, expectations, a part of the problem are what a lot of people perceive as fact and as a result the expectations they’ve set.  A glaring example of this can be found on television and how we think of the programs we watch. 

For over two hundred years criminals were put on trial and convicted without Gil Grissom or Horatio Caine getting on the stand and professing the defendant’s guilt.   Yes I am referring to characters from the popular TV shows CSI and CSI Miami.  I know, those shows aren’t real, they’re dramatizations, and everybody knows that!  Really, does everyone know that they are fictional dramatizations?  When you look up CSI Miami on the internet one of the first listing you’ll find is from Wikipedia, there the program is listed as “CSI: Miami (Crime Scene Investigation: Miami) is an American police procedural television series”.   Not a dramatization, not a “soap opera”, it’s “police procedural television”. 

I’m not blaming those programs, I happen to enjoy them as entertainment, and there lays the concern.  A large number of people don’t differentiate the entertainment from real life, it’s “police procedural television”.  This is nothing new; fifty years ago people were convinced that the guilty person would suddenly stand up from the audience at trial and proclaim their guilt because that’s what happens on Perry Mason.

In addition to being able to recognize the difference between “procedural television” and entertainment, people need to put a human life and non human life in their proper prospective.  I went out to dinner the other night and was sitting near the entrance of the restaurant.  I watched a family walking up to the door, as I watched I thought I saw the wife’s purse start to move.  Then I saw a little head pop out of the top, it was a small dog.  A moment later I saw the family walking back to their car to leave and the wife was beyond upset, she was angry!  What had her upset?  She could not bring her dog into the restaurant, but her anger wasn’t because this was a Service Animal she used to cope with life, this dog was one of her children!  Now I have had pets throughout my life that I was fond of, BUT!!!!

We can’t tell the difference between a fictional program and real life, or a living breathing human being that came from our seed and a canine (or other animal); do we really have a right to be angry with a jury verdict? 

Maybe we need to slow down, take a deep breath, and get our priorities straight before we tear down our judicial system!  That deep breath might also give us enough time to realize that what we want to do regarding the members of the jury, or Casey, is a crime even in the idealistic system we now want to create and will make us no better than the one we despise for “getting away with her child’s death.”

That’s My Opinion, What’s Yours

Now What, How About Shining Some Light?

The past six to eight months have been a constant attack on public employees; it has been such a rough time in the various state legislatures that employees are feeling “shell shocked”.  Some are trying to figure out what happened, it seemed as if the attacks have been coming from all sides.  Those that have been around for awhile are having flashbacks to the early eighties and mid nineties; it seems as if we’re on a Merry Go Round that is never ending.  You find yourself wondering what’s next and asking now what do I do?

As far as the first question (what’s next?) we know, more of the same, many governors have said that they are going to continue until they accomplish what they started!  As for the second question (what do I do now?), I have a few ideas.

We (Public Employees) have spent the past six months on the defensive, the politicians (mostly Republican) were able to come at us with several pieces of legislation all at once, including some that they knew would take away our focus such as attacking payroll deduction for union dues.  Then while the employees’ representatives were focused on that, other legislation was submitted that could have more detrimental effects on employees.  Since politicians have declared war on the public employees, employees and their unions need to treat it like a war. 

Before anyone’s blood pressure pops I am not calling for violence, or conduct such as what took place in Wisconsin.  I thought what occurred in Wisconsin was a disgrace; it gave the impression that employees couldn’t make valid arguments against, or explain why what was being proposed was bad for the state and residents.  It allowed supporters of the proposed legislation to make the discussion about the behavior of the unions and keep it away from the facts.  Those legislators have run from the true facts like a cockroach scurries from the light.

Worse was the fact that it created another issue for others to have to defend against.  This leads me to my first suggestion.  Employees need to go on an educational blitz, say a topic a week or month, but first we need to shine light on what is being said.  This is going to take plenty of patience, there will be times that it may seem as if it is a waste, but eventually it will work.  Those legislators learned from the past, they knew that with the economy as bad as it is people are struggling, people are scared at not knowing how much worse things will get.  The legislators learned that after the initial shock wears off people will begin to look for someone to blame so rather than have them look at wasteful spending of the legislative body they’ll blame the public employees union and “extravagant” benefit packages.  This way they can keep the unions and employees from shining the light on mismanagement?  There are good and bad in everything, including employee unions, so when they (the politicians) talk about unions they generalize and create the perception that all are bad.  Now the union is defending itself against something it had nothing to do with, nor supported, such as the conduct in Wisconsin.

Employees need to point out that unions are as varied as the population and not all are affiliated with organizations such as the Teamsters, AFL-CIO, etc.  These organizations are not all bad, but they do have a negative stigma because of actions of the past.  Next we need to talk to the public about the negative pieces of legislation that are proposed.  We need to point out that we are suffering just the same as others, that we haven’t had cost of living raises in years while costs have increased.  We need to point out that we have suffered layoffs for years and have to do more with less.

We need to point out that the politicians aren’t being honest when they say the financial mess is because of the union contracts and the fact that the contracts can’t be “broken”.  We need to let the public know that the union agreements can be opened and renegotiated, the problem is that the politicians don’t want to do that because most have provisions that require a review of their (politicians) spending of tax dollars.  They don’t want light shown on their spending so they propose legislation to circumvent the process.

 The public also needs to be educated about union dues, or more specifically the laws pertaining to the use of monies for political purposes.  The public needs to be reminded of the earlier lesson about all unions not being affiliated with national organizations that have traditionally been democratic supporters.  Then the public needs to be informed that these dues proposals are not needed to protect employees because there are already laws that prevent a union member’ dues from being used for political purposes without the employee’s consent (another light on the politician).

 Next, and more importantly unions need to share with the public what is done with dues money.   That dues are used to provide legal assistance for employees when they are the subject of oppressive, unfair discipline, or are accused of misconduct and the legislative body refuses to provide assistance.  In that regard the union could also demonstrate the legal fees that have been recovered in the cases that the employee was not wronged, and the savings that the legislative body could have had if their attorney had represented the employee.  Then it should be demonstrated how dues monies are put back into the communities in the form of charity contributions, scholarship programs, etc.  In the case of law enforcement organizations explain the support for the families of officers disabled or killed in the Line of Duty, and the annual Law Enforcement Memorials (and maintaining those memorials).

I’ve saved the best for last; we need to educate the politicians.  We need to educate them on fiscal problems of the past and how when they or their predecessors finally worked with the employees instead of attacking them solutions were found that fixed the problem.  We need to show them that if they would only listen to the employees they could make real, meaningful, long lasting savings.

Last, and certainly not least, we need to educate politicians about perceptions.  Contrary to the perception not all public employees and union members are Democrats; we are Republicans, Independents, etc.  Many public employees I’ve spoken with are so disgusted that they are changing their party affiliation and leaving the Republican Party, some unions are even holding rallies to change party affiliations.  I believe a different tack will be a better approach, I was taught as a youngster that if you see something wrong you try to fix it, you don’t run away.  We should vote out the current politicians and elect those that will be fair, respectful, and honest with the employees and the public.  After all WE ARE ALSO THE PUBLIC, THE TAX PAYER!

The public shock and fear about the economy is wearing off, now the public will be more receptive to information as long as it is presented in a professional, informative, and more importantly positive manner.

That's My Opinion, What's Yours