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City Hall175 East 200 NorthSt. George, UT 84770(435) 627-4000
| November 21, 2009 |
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Crime and the Spirit of Christmas The other day I heard a comment from a friend that made me sit up and take notice. He remarked that he loved this time of year, that people were friendlier and thought more about others and less about themselves than at other times during the year. Then he added that he wished it could last all year long. Wouldn't that be nice? What effect would that have on me as a police officer? What would be the effects of such a thought on the community? I have long held the belief that I am employed due to the fact that there is selfishness in the hearts of a few people. Now keep in mind that I wholeheartedly believe that the vast majority of the public are good, law-abiding, contributing members of society. We are talking about a minority that we as officers get involved with. The chief and I were talking about our jobs and what we encountered in the course of doing our work and we philosophized about the root causes. He spoke of an incident that he witnessed while driving on the Boulevard. A car in front of his turned the left turn signal on to change lanes and the car next to the chief's actually sped up to "cut off" the lane changer, then a block or two down the road, the guy that cut off the lane changer wanted to change lanes himself to the right lane. If I had been cut off, I would be less likely to allow the guy who cut me off to change lanes in front of me. This could be the cause of road rage. How much would it have taken to simply take the foot off the gas and wave the lane changer over? Would attitudes have been altered by the courtesy? Things like this would actually be a form of paying it forward. The lane changer would have a better attitude and would be more likely to extend a similar courtesy. This is what we were talking about when we spoke of selfishness vs selflessness. Some of us are just plain selfish by intent, but I believe the majority of us are unintentionally so. I believe that we get caught up so much in the things that we are doing (the meeting that we are late for, the phone call we are on, the things we have yet to do that will now have to wait) that we just plain forget to think about others. Maybe we are nice to our neighbors and our friends, but when we get behind the wheel, we are now interacting with others unknown to us and so we can act differently. We need to change our thinking. We need to make it a point to care more. A family that I know loves December so much, and they get so much out of the feelings of service and selflessness, that they are actually making it a point to have the "12 months of Christmas". They are expanding Christmas to include service and concentrating on things they can do for others each month of the year. It takes work to change our habits. It takes work to teach our children. It takes work to build relationships, and these things drain you mentally. But the rewards are immense and far-reaching. Make one of your New Year's resolutions to include others. Craig Harding Public Information Officer St. George Police Department |
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