back the blue

my heart breaks to write these words but this has become the world we live in. a world where we can't turn on the television, listen to the radio or browse through social media without coming across a story involving a police office who unnecessarily lost his life. who was shot and killed while serving a warrant. who was hit by a car intentionally while at a traffic stop. these stories make my insides ache and turn my stomach upside-down.

most of us go to work, do our job without much of a care in the world, go home to our families, enjoy our evening, head safely to bed and wake up the next morning and repeat. but life for a police officer is so much different. while most of us are climbing into bed at night, they strap on their bullet proof vest and duty belt in a dimly lit room, trying not to wake their families. they head out into the darkness, the unknown, and patrol our streets.. often putting themselves in harms way so we can feel safe.

they respond to calls of people in need of help.. a woman who is afraid of her drunk and abusive husband. someone who finds their loved one on the verge of their last breath after an overdose. a business owner who was just robbed at gunpoint. a desperate husband whose wife is in active labor. a teacher who calls in a panic after she hears gunshots. a witness to a car accident that has left its passengers unconscious and bloody.

all these situations.. the ones that leave us scared and unsure of what to do next.. the ones we can't handle on our own.. all of them, we call the police for. we call the police because we know we can rely on them in our desperate times of need. our most vulnerable moments. we know they will arrive at our side as quickly as their cruiser can get them there. 

and so, i keep asking myself why? why do people find so many negative comments to say about our police officers? why are there so many people who want to harm them? why are there so few of us who actually support them? why have so many been brutally murdered? why? 

i am under no false impression that there are zero bad police officers in our world.. of course there are corrupt officers who abuse their powers.. there are bad people in every profession. but, despite what the news and the haters want you to believe, i guarantee you that they are few and far between. the unfortunate thing is that the news neglects to inform the public about the situation surrounding an officer becoming aggressive with someone. they don't tell you the part where they were spat on or kicked and punched or threatened with weapons.. and so, our officers end up being the bad guys. how quickly we forget the only ones who come to help us.  

these men and women have a job to do, but they also deserve to go home at the end of their shift.. sometimes this may mean they need to use more force to control a situation. they are police officers but they are also husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, children, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts. they already sacrifice so much.. they miss birthday parties and holidays, weddings and soccer games, their baby's first steps and words, endless dinners. their wives sleep alone and they don't get to tuck their children in at night or see them onto the bus for their first day of school. 

these families already sacrifice more than we could ever comprehend.. now we need to somehow put an end to wives becoming widows, children growing up without a father, parents reading their child's obituary. it's all so tragic. 

despite what the news and social media tell us, our police officers are good people. brave people. men and women who signed up for this job to make a difference and protect us.. a duty they are willing to die to for. we need to respect them and stand behind them.. we need to back the blue.