This day will always carry too much weight in my soul. I lost five friends that day, people I'd served with, learned with, people committed to their jobs and society.
Being a cop rarely feels heroic. It more often feels boring, or repetitive, or sometimes pointless. It can feel scary. It can feel mundane. It can feel absurdly hot on a summer day when your chest is wrapped in kevlar.
The NYPD police officers that I was lucky enough to work alongside were not brutal people, not inherently racist, nor violent or so egotistical that they'd use deadly physical force in response to being insulted. I know that none of that means anything to those who've run into bad (or badly trained) cops, or know people who have, but I believed in these people - who often held my life in their hands.
It's a rough time to be even an ex-cop. A major party presidential candidate who believes that January 6th cop-killers are political prisoners has been endorsed by the nation's largest police officer organization. The NYPD commissioner is clearly a corrupt man who runs cover-ups for bad cops, people (quite rationally) see police as a threat.
But on this September 11th, I'd like you to think about the cops, firefighters, and paramedics who run toward the events everyone else runs away from. I hate the word "fearless." "Fearless" to me suggests either stupidity or an extreme lack of observational skills. What is heroic is having a clear understanding of the dangers to self, and yet the willingness - in a split second - to act.
Please thank a hero today.
https://lnkd.in/eq6acrwV Reflecting on Police Memorial Week
https://lnkd.in/ec4Ww4FF Cowardice Under Fire
https://lnkd.in/eCrwSeUB Will we forget 9/11? Have we already?
Chair, Associate Professor & Faculty Director, University of Kentucky, Educational Leadership Studies, Center for Next Generation Leadership
1yThanks Ira! I know how honest of a judge you are ... so, it means a lot.