I had a good friend send me a link to a High School
classroom video that recently had gone viral. It showed a police officer
attempting to take a student out of the classroom for being disrespectful. The
video taken by one of the students shows the officer’s attempt to get her to
cooperate turns into his throwing her to the ground in a rather violent
fashion. Clearly the officer has used too extreme of force to remove the
student but why didn’t the student comply with the teacher, administrator and
now the officer? Now the school, the officer and student are featured on all
social media, the news and soon in court.
I recently did a community service project where 140
volunteers partnered with me to paint the exterior of houses of low-income
seniors. What strikes me as I contrast how it was possible in a tough
neighborhood to have that many volunteers do something rather amazing; help
someone in real need. After a few hours of painting the houses were finished, cleaned
up and everyone from volunteer to grandmas and grandpas could step back to see
the power of working together. The amazing picture that stands out in my mind
is that of two little girls playing together as their parents painted grandma
Sophie’s house.
What happened that caused a classroom to turn into
strong-armed attack by a police officer with a student? What happened that
orchestrated the painting of 5 houses with 140 volunteers that ended in a
rather peaceful fashion with everyone walking away sensing something good had
happened and the community was better? It’s amazing the difference between the
clash and abuse of authority; contrasted to the proper use of someone’s gifts
and time to do something positive and beneficial to the community.
I totally understand looking back as a teen growing up in
the 60’s how I balked at any form of authority that told me what to do
especially if it was contrary to my own will. I can also remember the quickness
of many to distrust and disrespect those that were older. Looking back I must
admit that I was wrong regardless of whether I had a bad teacher, had an
unfortunate experience with a law officer or didn’t always agree with my
parent’s dictates because of my unwillingness to listen. The opportunity is for
all to stop assuming that their rights and authority in any situation gives
them license to harm anyone or destroy property. What would have happened in
that classroom if that student had listened to their teacher that day and
behaved? What might have happened if the police officer instead of attempting
to physically restrain the girl had called her parent(s) and allowed them to
take their daughter home?
What if a person’s rights took the back seat to having a
heart of compassion and understanding in this type of situation? Maybe the
student had the day from hell and had a meltdown? It is possible that the
officer also had a bad morning but unfortunately took out his anger on the
student instead of dealing with his own personal feelings. The opportunity is for all involved
ultimately to do what is right and work through personal differences that then
help the rest of us see that it is possible to resolve differences without
using violence.
I know personally it is very difficult to confess to my part
in loosing my temper or making a poor judgment call. The reality that is
unfortunate to admit is that at times our poor choices will require a response
that requires ‘special help’ whether that’s my willful disobedience to an
authority figure or the extreme misuse of someone’s authority to stop a bad
situation from getting worse.
Why can’t we be like the two little kids that played
together as their family and friends painted a house?
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