I worked at a convenience store while I was in college. The neighborhood was mostly safe and lawful with occasional dramatic exceptions. My convenience store career would come to an abrupt end when a robber shot a hole in the ceiling while I was off work, and I negotiated a career change to make mom less agitated. But while I was working those night shifts, police were regulars. Coffee, maybe a scoop of High’s ice cream, and a bit of conversation on what the Russians were up to or the travails of trying to meet the right girl in a town that was not often receptive to law enforcement officers. They would tip me off if a customer was carrying a weapon. Occasionally a gun, more often a knife or a straight blade. Given the cue, I learned to look for such things, but they were always better.
A couple of year after I changed jobs, the news came. Phil, the senior officer in our little circle, answered a call and was ambushed. Officer dead. Manhunt under way. He was still single, still hadn’t found the right woman, and now he would never meet his children, never teach them to play ball or watch them graduate high school. Never again swap stories about the ludicrous and terrible things that happen on that job. Lord bless and keep him.
This year, some people have expressed grievances with our police, thinking that our society would function much more to their satisfaction if there were no officers tasked with maintaining public order. Some corrupt politicians and their supporters have gone so far as to pay the bail for felons charged with violent, even capital, crimes. On this first Sunday in Lent, on contemplating my valiant friend, I must sharply voice my objections and thank the honest law enforcement officers who make life safer for myself and my family. The proposed policies make everyones lives more dangerous, and their supporters are no friends of liberty.
Welcome. May His blessings be with you all this first Sunday of Lent, 2021.