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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Public Servant Announcement

When I was a wee lad, no older than 5, my uncles ingrained into me a knee jerk reaction. Like one of Pavlav's mutts, I was trained to yell a three-word phrase whenever I saw certain types of people.
I remember walking through the grocery store with my uncles and my aunt when one of my uncles pointed and said, "Look Steven. A police man!" I chased him down. My aunt was close behind. She knew what I was up to and threatened me with terrible punishments if I yelled at the police officer.
I got within 5 feet of the public servant, took a deep breath and yelled, "I SMELL B---" my aunt covered my mouth. Which I easily thwarted by licking her hand. She could only stand it for so long and the second my mouth was free, and between my gasping for air because I was laughing so hard at myself I got the phrase out, "I SMELL BACON!"
Fast forward 3 months later. My mom and I walk out of a warehouse and standing in the parking lot is a security guard. My mouth started to salivate as the bell in my head rang. We passed through the big parking lot to our van. I opened the van door but before getting in, I took a deep breath and yelled, "IIIII SMELLLLL BACONNN!"
My mother was shocked. It was as if I had dropped the F-bomb. She drove me over to the security guard even though I begged her not to and warned her, in between my sobs, that if she did I would be arrested and taken to jail. The cop accepted my very sincere apology and ever since, I have given the upmost respect to police officers. Even BYU cops. I respect them as much as people respect firefighters.
The untouchable public servant...The Firefighter.
I have an uncle who used to be a firefighter which should somehow give me a little credibility for what I am about to say. How often do firefighters run into a burning building? I don't really know. What I do know is that most firefighters spend most of their time sitting around the station playing X-box and occasionally drive to different locations when someone calls 911. (Every 911 call requires a police car, an ambulance, and a fire vehicle to respond even if it is a robbery call) Is their service respectable? Absolutely. Is it needed? Of course. Does their service influence spread over most of society? I don't think so and I know their service doesn't reach as much of the public as that of police officers. I can guarantee you have been influenced for good because of a police officer even if he was simply blowing a whistle and poorly guiding traffic. I can't tell you the last time my house caught on fire.
Here is the irony.
Firefighters are untouchable heros who can't be hated on. You might as well hate on children with leukemia or burn an American flag. Which is why I want to make it clear that I am not hating on Firefighters. They risk their lives to help others a lot more than a computer engineer or a dentist.
Do firefighters risk their lives nearly as much as a police officer?
I would say no. I would also say that overall, police officers do more good for society than firefighters do and they probably risk their lives a lot more often as well.
Yet, hating on cops is like hating on taxes. Little punk 5 year olds are running around yelling, "I smell bacon!"
I guess we need to all stop hating cops the same way we all stopped hating Snape.

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