Satire and Subterfuge!

Thank God for humor! Without it most of us probably couldn’t tolerate the nonsense that we encounter in our day-to-day lives. Comedy takes the edge off of more serious topics by presenting things in an entertaining manner. Comic Relief!

Satire especially, is used to poke fun at people and ideas through the use of exaggeration and sarcasm. Satire is a great source of entertainment, especially in the arena of politics and current events. Lord knows we can’t take life too seriously or we are all likely to go insane.

HOWEVER, if we never take life seriously we are likely to be lulled into a trance and led away like children by the Pied Piper of Hamelin. There comes a time where we must face reality and, in a conscious state, address real issues.

The dangers of an over reliance on comedy are two-fold. First, we are likely to miss the message of how the real story impacts our lives. We lose the ability to make informed decisions because we get so caught up in being entertained. The importance of a given topic is downplayed and thus easily forgotten. Second, we get an even more opinionated view of reality. Spin, slant, agenda, bias or whatever you want to call it. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of bias that goes into non-comedic presentations but at least you get a clearer picture of what is going on, especially if you get your information from a variety of sources.

Beware the subterfuge of satire! Looking specifically at politics, both sides (Liberal and Conservative) use this tactic a lot. They make the other side sound absolutely ridiculous by presenting their views in an over-the-top and highly exaggerated manner. Additionally, by making the opposing side’s argument sound silly they are attempting to discredit them.

It’s true no matter what side of the aisle we are on we often see the views of the other as being off in left field, but its important to know the real reason why! We must be able to rationally argue our beliefs and discredit our opposition’s in a respectful manner. This allows us to more clearly see the flaws in our own arguments, find middle ground if it exists or checkmate the opposition. The Federalist Papers are one of the best examples I can think of how to effectively argue a point.

Fight fair and don’t let your zeal for a certain topic cause you to belittle your opponent…something I am guilty of from time to time! Embrace comedy for what it is but don't rely on it. Don't fall asleep!

Innocence Lost: The betrayal of a father

I have been formulating in my mind a blog about subterfuge, however that will have to wait until next time as there is a more pressing matter to discuss; the parent/child relationship and more specifically, the father/son relationship.

Dispatch: “7B be in route XYZ location for a seven year old suffering from an emotional disorder running away from his mother.

7B: “in route”

Dispatch: “7B be in route code 3. Call has been upgraded to an 11-45, child made threats of killing himself and has jumped over a fence and into a pool”

7B: “10-4”

I arrive on scene, flagged down by mom at the community pool. The seven year old, is thankfully not in the pool, but on top of a slide on the adjacent playground inside the pool complex. A sigh of relief as I realize it was just another case of a parent overreacting and communication error with police dispatch…..WRONG!

What I encountered over the next hour was emotionally heart wrenching. It was tragic. I realized that in the pool or not, this child was drowning and what’s worse, he may have been under so long that irreparable damage had been done.

The long and short of it the child’s father is in prison. In prison for sexual abuse. I’ve seen it before, taken many reports of molestation by family members of kids of all different ages. Generally, as a police officer, you bury those cases down deep with in you, using bad humor and whatever you can so that it doesn’t destroy you. Something about this kid and this situation was different.

As I entered the gate and started approaching the child at the top of the slide I could see him watching me, waiting for me to cross some imaginary line he had drawn that meant I had come too close. “Get away from me!” He yelled repeatedly and tried to talk to him, comfort him and get him to come down. Get him to trust me just enough. An impossible task, even doubly so because of the uniform I was wearing. “I hate police officers! Leave me alone! You took my dad away!”

The boy eventually climbed off the play structure, making a futile attempt to climb a tall fence, then running around before he was snatched up my Sergeant who he hadn’t seen. The boy fought and screamed and kicked but a seven year old boy is no match for a full grown police officer…..no match for his father either.

I took hold of the boy and he battled me for the better part of a hour as I tried to comfort him until our psychological response team arrived, and then a private ambulance. A seven year old struggled without relent and I was physically and emotionally drained by the end of it and still had an entire shift to endure.

Holding that child he felt so much like my son who is just a few years younger. Innocence lost! I felt a momentary rage towards this boys father and wanted great harm done to the monster. My anger was only momentary; the child’s would be indefinite. I prayed numerous times while he was in my arms. I still pray that he will not become like his father.

A few moments of light in a dark time….I heard my Sergeant speaking with the mother and as she was relaying what the father had done my Sergeant interrupted and refused to let her call him “father.” He looked into her eyes and said he’s not a father, then looked at the grandfather who was standing nearby who you could tell had taken on that role, and he said that’s a father!

Last week I saw the Christian movie, Courageous, which if you don’t know is specifically about fathers. There is a dialogue in the movie where the lead character’s friends tell him you’re a good enough father and he replies that he does not want to just be a “good enough father.”

There are plenty of bad fathers out there; enough fathers who are good enough and one perfect Father. We have a responsibility to our children to try our best to be great fathers, to model The Father and, if we can, help the fatherless as well. If I was a better blogger, I’d be able to throw the statistics out there of the failure rate of children without fathers. We can’t do it alone. We need the support of mothers and other fathers, if one stumbles the others help him back to his feet.

Do not violate the innocence of any child and make sure that your children can trust you. Raise your sons to be men. Any male can impregnate a female. It takes a man to be a father.

What is your ZOMBIE plan?

Today I went to the Gun Show with some friends and it caught my attention the variety of different people I saw there. Men, women, children, military, hunters, law enforcement, collectors, marksman…..Zombie Killer. What? Zombie Killer? Really?

For each type of person attending there were at least four times the amount of products catering to that person. Yes, even the Zombie Killer. I noticed this trend starting several years ago with a surge in zombie movies coming out of Hollywood, leaving zombie movie enthusiasts with the burning question…..What if zombies come, will I be ready? What is my zombie plan?

Naturally, people would have to begin preparing for such an apocalyptic nightmare. They must acquire the weapons to kill these creatures and hone their skills in the mean time. Praise to the capitalist for seeing this demand and providing a vast supply of zombie targets to meet it. Now people can adequately prepare for the zombie apocalypse and God bless our fellow Americans they want to help others prepare as well. One individual was wearing a t-shirt, which read, “Ask me about my Zombie plan!” No doubt excited to share his expertise with the next brother or sister ready to take up arms against the enemy.

As silly as it all seems, and how paranoid you may think the people are who attend gun shows, I saw something entirely different.

Our Creator provided us with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our Founding Fathers were smart enough to know that these things must be fought for and defended at all times…..they gave us the Constitution and it’s Bill of Rights. More specifically they gave us the 2^nd Amendment.

“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

The threat of a Zombie Apocalypse is right around the corner. There is always a risk of losing our unalienable rights to evil people and tyrannical governments. The whole zombie killing phenomenon is just a pop-culture inspired way for people to lighten the mood. Society today makes mere gun ownership seem taboo and having multiple guns, learning about those guns and actually shooting those guns regularly makes you a right wing nut job! The mindset is wrong! You do not want a plumber who owns one wrench and replaces a sink drain 2-3 times a year to re pipe your house. You would prefer the veteran surgeon over the med-student when having your triple-bypass heart surgery. Why does a familiarity with firearms make those individuals more risky? Answer: it doesn’t.

Being prepared should not be synonymous with being paranoid. You don’t have car insurance because you are paranoid about getting in a wreck. You most likely have it just in case but the key is, you have it. There is not a one policy fits all approach by insurance agencies either, a wide range of policies exist to fit different peoples situations. Your neighbor may have a more expensive car or a teenage driver or likes the peace of mind of a little bit more coverage.

Our Founding Fathers knew The People were the key check and balance to government’s power, not only with their votes and ability to petition the government for redress of grievances but the ability to defend their God given rights.

If you don’t have a zombie plan, you should think about getting one. If you don’t know where to start, Ask me about my Zombie Plan!