I am not a cop. I cannot begin to understand the stress that a police officer faces daily. I can’t begin to imagine what it feels like to be the wife or loved one of someone whose spouse risks his/her life everyday. I will not even pretend to know what a day in a cop’s shoes is like.
I am not a criminal. I do not have a record. I have not personally gone through the loss of a loved one from police brutality. I cannot begin to imagine what the family members of those who have lost loved ones are going through.
But because I’m neither of those things does not mean that I cannot empathize with those who are. I feel for the police officers who just want to do what’s right. And I feel for the families out there who have never witnessed a police officer wanting to do what’s right.
All I ask, as hard as it may be, is for us to put ourselves in each other’s shoes. Just for once. Understand why people are hurting.
As a teacher, I get what it’s like to just want to do your job, and be good at it. And I also understand what it’s like when children or families say that they don’t like teachers, because they have met some who simply didn’t care for the children they taught. As a police officer, I ask that you try to do the same. Understand that in light of what people are witnessing, it’s not only easy, but humanistic to get why some people feel the way they do about law enforcement and our justice system.
Citizens, try to understand that it’s not easy to be a cop. In a matter of seconds they have to make life or death decisions not just for themselves, but for a community of people. Unfortunately, we’ve witnessed what appears to be the wrong decision in a lot of cases on both sides of the coin.
Most importantly, I am a Christian. I am not OK with what’s happening today. I’m not OK with crime, and I’m not OK with police brutality. I do know that hating the police won’t make it better. And unfortunately, doing nothing wrong may not stop people from dying.
People are hurt. People are angry. Can’t we at least try to understand why, instead of trying to convince people that they are wrong for feeling this way?