A Huge Dose Of Reality
For every yin there’s yang. For every positive there’s negative. For every dark there’s light. For every sacred there’s profane. For every high there’s low. For every good there’s evil. Sometimes things are comprehended most clearly when they are considered in conjunction with their opposite.
Such is the case, dear readers, when we think about the police. In May of this year, viewers saw one side of police work in the shocking video of the death of George Floyd. I would venture to guess that the video of Floyd’s death has been viewed by 90 plus percent of American adults. I would further venture to say that all individuals with even a modicum of compassion were horrified by the video, as was I. And the brutality of the video is what made it so easy for Black Lives Matter and leftist malcontents to use the incident as a pretext for looting, rioting, arson, violence, murder and mayhem. But the fact that the video was coopted for nefarious anti American purposes does not ameliorate the brutality it depicts.
But, like everything in this complicated world, there’s another side to police work that can not, and should not, be ignored. Another side that is just as shocking and just as brutal as the Floyd video, but in reverse. The following video shows body cam footage of a confrontation involving Chicago police officers responding to multiple 911 calls about a stabbing in a city park. On arrival they encounter an assailant clutching a 10 inch knife. When instructed to drop his weapon, the knife wielding perpetrator lunges at the officers, shrugs off a taser, and then attempts to stab a female police sergeant to death. The video can be accessed via the following link:
Quite a dose of reality, is it not?
And, I have a few thoughts to share about this:
1) In this case, the officer survived because the attacker stabbed at her into her Kevlar vest. But, what if he went for her neck instead? Or her face or head? Terrifying to even contemplate.
2) Although this degree of horrific danger does not happen every day, police officers face the RISK of something like this happening EVERY SINGLE DAY they put on their uniform.
3) This incident might be a good test case for presidential candidate Joe Biden’s recent suggestion that a psychiatrist should accompany police officers responding to such calls in order to reason with the madman attacker and thereby “diffuse” the situation. How do you think your plan would have turned out here, Joe?
4) Lastly, I implore all Americans to keep this video in mind when thinking about the police and their dangerous work. They deserve our understanding, our respect and our unwavering support.