I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t understand. I have images burned into my brain – that have wounded and scarred me to the core of my being. I’ve seen things that no caring person should ever have to see.
The other day, a cop friend of mine was talking about some of the things she has seen. She mentioned how they joke about using the MIB “flashy thing” when they retire – to erase all the things they’ve seen.
Three times in my career, I’ve treated small children who were accidentally backed over by the family car. These kids are so small, so mobile, and very quick – in a heartbeat they are where they shouldn’t be. It’s made me very cautious when backing my car around my kids. Usually, I just bring them into the car with me – that way I know where they are.
The first kid I saw that had been backed over was in a retail parking lot. His mom had run into the store really quick and the kids took the opportunity to get into mischief. First the three-year-old boy got out of the car, then, coincidentally, his older sister took the car out of gear. Upon our arrival, we found the boy lying in the parking lot, crying. As I bent down to assess him, he began projectile vomiting – which is a terrible sign for someone with a head injury.
I think one of my biggest frustrations is when people fail to see the bigger picture. When a system plays out, just the way it is designed to operate, why do we blame the people who are merely actors in the process? Why do we shoot the messengers?
For example, there are 30-40 million people in this country without health insurance. Many of those people are good, respectable individuals who find themselves in a difficult, and possibly temporary, situation. Others have been raised within a culture of poverty – social, spiritual, cultural, and financial poverty – they don’t know any other way. It isn’t their fault they are in the situations they find themselves, and they don’t know any other way out. Why do we blame these victimized people for the using the only system they know?
The Magic of 3:00 am 