He screamed, “I’ve got a bomb up my ass.” He was thoroughly convinced of that standing
naked in the middle of El Cajon Blvd.
It’s no secret that al Qaeda’s desires to bring down an
American airline with explosives smuggled in the body cavity of a would be
Jihadist. The cops felt this guy could be the real deal. In a typical critical response configuration one
person gave commands with less than lethal munitions and his cover had lethal
options at the ready. A hand’s on team
was also ready to pounce.
There were two events this week that highlighted the
diversity of policing. Chris Ball
retired and naked man almost forced a lethal confrontation. Both paint a picture of how we view
ourselves.
Chris is a former British Bobby with almost 40 years of policing
here in the United States. When he
retired most of the police captains in SD took him to dinner at the SD Yacht
club. We toasted him and told stories of
his storied career. He was a wild man.
From the cover of Time magazine in a community policing article, to the
focal point of our current policy on handling demonstrations and crowds, Chris
left an indelible imprint of the face of SDPD.
Most important was how Chris treated people. “I love people! All of
them. Rich, poor, black, white, cops or crooks.” He was being truthful. He frequently sat down
for coffee with a cop and then was standing on the street corner with his arms
around a woman who looked like Precious, but the victim of domestic violence. Chris
could be seen yucking it up with a parolee in handcuffs.
Then there is Bath Salt Boy.
He crashed through the glass sliding door of an unsuspecting homeowner
cutting himself to pieces. Tried to
steal their car with a popsicle stick and finally stripped himself naked to
“tear the bomb” out of his butt. Standing
naked in the street screaming he had a “bomb in his ass” patrol officers closed
in. As the officers closed the gap he
grabbed his testicles and pulled them apart, grabbing handfuls of scrotum
screaming frantically. The officers subdued
him and took him to the hospital for help.
I can learn from Chris and how my guys treated Bath Salts
Boy and how we as a society and people of faith treat those unlike us. God
gives us clear direction. Matthew 5:43
ff.
It begins with how I view myself. People of faith (me) have
an elevated view of our worth because we have based our positions, judgments
and justifications on God, therefore we are right, in just about everything. It’s an exclusive club we belong to. The always right club. Anyone can join but
you do have to join.
On the other hand look at what Jesus said, “He causes his
sun to rise on the veil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the
unrighteous.” He loves each of us, the evil and the good, equally. That should change my theology. God loves the guy in the back seat of my
patrol car as much as me. The drunk who just vomited. God loves him. The dope dealer, gangster, 290 registrant,
yup, God loves them. It’s hard for me to
grasp, because I’m much easier to love than they are, aren’t I? I’m more worthy.
“If you love the brothers what are you doing more than
others? Don’t the pagans do that?” Here is he hard part for me. In this area of faith God says: “Be perfect,
therefore as your heavenly father is perfect.”
Jesus’ demand for perfection in this area hurts. I only want
to love those who don’t smell and can pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Why
couldn’t Jesus have stopped there!?