Torting our rule of law

 

 

 

"Many kids today have zero respect. Zero respect for teachers, for other adults, for the police. We are raising packs of feral youth in many of our large cities..."

When I was at the "U" and took Business Law, one of the words I learned which became one of my favorite was tort. The word goes back eons, and back then it simply meant "twist". Like something would become twisted. For example today, our rule of law. It seems like not a week goes by without some city having a confrontation between misbehaving citizens (often times youth) and the local police.

So what has changed since I was a kid growing up in Robbinsdale, Minnesota? Well first off, I was never hassled by the police. Probably the best reason for that was I kept my nose clean. Did not get into much trouble at all. I was also told by my parents that should I ever get into trouble and police were called, I was to act like an angel. "Yes sir", "no sir", cooperate and OBEY. The police would then call my parents to come and get me.

The second thing which has changed is just as important. Should I have ever become sideways with the law, the judgment waiting for me at home would have been worse than with the police. You see, back then parents (for the most part) respected the rule of law. If you (as a youth) got into trouble at school, your parents would most likely side with the teacher. If you (as a youth) got in trouble with the police, your parents would most likely side with the police.

The dust up which happened the other day in Florida is indicative of what is happening just about everywhere today. Unruly kids acting poorly. The police are then called, and the kids disobey and disrespect our rule of law. Our police are here, have been hired by us, to enforce laws which are on the books. Period. They don't make up their own laws - they enforce laws on the books. If someone does not like those laws, get politically active and try to get those laws changed.

My heart goes out to many of the police officers today. In this twisted world of up is down and black is white, cops have become bad and bad behavior has become tolerated. Where did this change start? The parenting or lack thereof. If today's parents had better control over their kids AND respect for our rule of law, situations like what happened in Florida would become as rare as hen's teeth.

As for me at age 65, I still like and respect our police. When in trouble, I could not think of a better friend to call. They are trained, and they care. To me, they are friends and heroes. Enough said.