Learning by Emulation

Who here loves that Parole's friend who is screaming at you about his buddy's rights and how you are violating them?  Or the one person who keeps giving you a gauntlet of names they "might" be listed as?  Or how about the punk teen who is "just going to run away" if you bring them back to their parent's house because they do what they want?  Has that blood pressure started to tick upward thinking about these and the other laundry list of less-than-cordial people you deal with daily at work?  I know mine has.

"Thanks LDS Sheepdog, now I have to try to relax AGAIN."  Ok, there is a point I promise.

There are lots of things out there that will make us angry.  There are plenty of people who have no issue spouting hate, lies, and just ugly things to us as we do our best to provide service.  Here comes the cliché: Don't sweat the small stuff.

Now before you try to rip me off the high-horse, know that I am learning this just as much as the next.  It is true though; there is plenty of small stuff out there trying to get us to lose our cool and start acting like meat-head ogres rather than the spiritual directors we are. No one likes losing their cool.  It isn't becoming of us and I know it makes me feel like I'm no better than the dummy I am potentially arresting.  Yes, I have thought how great it would be to really make a "scumbag" face immediate justice.  Yes, I have cheered when you see a video of an officer spear a perp to the ground and felt the satisfaction of dropping a fighter to the ground.

But that feeling is fleeting.

That feeling we get comes from a temporal satisfaction from our coworkers cheering us on for stopping the threat.  And while I am in no way belittling officer safety and the obvious need for this action (regardless of what others may say), I am saying the satisfaction should come from performing our jobs well.  It should not come from a sense of "teaching that punk a lesson."

"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny."

Recognize this?  I hope so.  This is the reminder to us about who we are really dealing with.  Suspect, victim, witness, everyone.  They are all beloved of the Father and the Son.  It is through this understanding that we can utilize the power of the Holy Ghost to direct our actions and words to reiterate this to those around us.  We don't have to be callus to the world around us.  There is too much of that in this job.

It's true that we are the few who have to deal with those who make or are affected by the most heinous tools of Satan.  We are the few who find people at their worst.  We have to see the anguish and suffering and remain aloof from the emotional pain clearly displayed.

BUT... we are also given the Gift of the Holy Ghost to seek opportunity to teach, uplift, and support.  We are the few who have the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to have the words to say to help.  We are the few who have the tools to gain spiritual protection and guidance to help others do the same.  We are the few who can truly recognize that getting into a fight, throwing on handcuffs, and booking criminals for multiple charges does not mean that the criminal is any less of a person in Heavenly Father's eyes.  We are ALL beloved of the Father.

It just takes one little moment

My final point in this is that we are truly in a unique position to feel what our Father in Heaven feels.  How about some literal comparison:

-Hearing them curse your name while trying to help and blaming you for any repercussions of their decisions
-Reaching out to help someone who is fully addicted to any vice
-Counseling despite knowing the likelihood of re occurrence is great
-Wanting to fix the pains and consequences, but knowing it is up to them to make the right choice
-Seeing the instant remorse of poor judgement and knowing the battle of repentance ahead

We can become like our Heavenly Father.  Everyone on this Earth can do so as well.  Do not despair.  Do not let "the guys" harden you.  You can be tough, fair, and loving.  We are all practicing to be heavenly parents.  For those who are parents, tough, fair, and loving should be the motto anyway.  Take this week to do some reflecting.  And don't worry, we are all still working toward the goal of being like Heavenly Father.  We aren't there yet.

Godspeed, LEOs.

-LDS Sheepdog