I have a crap ton of stuff to do today but there’s something
I just had to stop and say. This is my own fault. If I had avoided Facebook I
could be doing something productive like scrubbing my toilets instead of
ranting. Nevertheless, here I am. My news feed today is full of stories of men
and women who have broken the law. No big deal, right? People break the law
every day. This is true, but the exception here is that these lawbreakers are
professionals and this greatly changes the sentiment involved.
When we read stories about a factory employee going postal
the follow up stories undoubtedly deal with mental illness and how society has missed
it or the poor working conditions where this criminal worked. We hear of how
the factory employee was a victim. This is a shocking difference from the news
stories where Doctors, Lawyers, Nurses, Accountants, Police, Insurance Agents, etc.
are found guilty of crimes. The follow up stories and comments on these post are
ones where the entire profession is demonized.
In light of the recent police shootings that have made
headlines many of my contacts have taken the opportunity to find any story they
can about the criminal activities of those in the police profession. To read
these articles you would automatically assume that anyone who would choose to
be a police officer is a douche who is power tripping and likes to shoot
anything that moves. Are there some out there like that? I’m sure there are. Is
it the majority of police officers in the United States? I’d venture to say, “No.”
The one that strikes even closer to home is the article
about the criminal in the medical profession who diagnosed healthy individuals
with cancer just to get the payout from treating them. If you want to keep your
sanity I’d urge you not to read the comments at the end of the article.
Everyone has a story about this Dr. who removed appendixes because he felt like
it or that Dr. who always ordered unnecessary tests because she got kickbacks. Nowhere
does it mention the men and women who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars
and countless years of their lives training because they want to help others. And
when you get into bashing the medical profession it doesn’t stop with doctors, it extends to those terrible nurses who are sneaking scripts on the side and
big Pharma who are all out to make money by poisoning the hapless stupid
population.
I. Have. Had. It. You know what’s missing from both accounts –
the crazed factory worker who shoots everyone in his sight and the accounts of
the white collar criminal? PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY! When did it happen that we
became afraid to hold people personally responsible for their crimes? This
thought came to me the other day as I was having lunch with my BFF who was
telling me a story of police officers in Detroit who dressed in their uniforms
and mugged people. Is this supposed to make me think that police men and women
are bad? No, it makes me think that there are criminals in all professions. If
you’ve noticed, I’ve used the word "criminal" many times in this post. That’s because
that is exactly what these men and women are. I refuse to label them by their
chosen career. They are men and women who have engaged in criminal activity.
They have made poor choices and they are responsible…not others who have chosen
that career.
There are lousy mechanics out there. There are also
fantastic mechanics who are honest. There are terrible lawyers who just want to
make their money and go home and then there are upright and just lawyers who care
about upholding the law. There are terrible doctors and there are great
doctors. There are nurses I’d trust with my life and those who I don’t want
touching me with a ten foot pole. There are police who get dressed every day,
put on their bullet proof vests, kiss their wives and children goodbye, and
pray they come home to them and there are those who engage in criminal activity
in hopes that their uniform shields them. There are men and women of character
and there are those without character. It’s time that we start holding people
personally responsible for their actions. We also need to use our own minds and
make wise choices as to whom we trust with our healthcare, taxes, protection
and so on, but that's for another blog, another time.
I hope that the next time you read an article about someone
behaving in criminal activity you stop to think about the personal responsibility
and character of the people involved.
