Across our great country in less than a span of twenty four hours, an individual decided to drive a truck through a crowd celebrating the arrival of the New Year in New Orleans slaughtering multiple innocent people. When that wasn’t enough, he got out, and shot it out with the brave members of The New Orleans Police Department who ran to defense of the defenseless. Thankfully, his improvised explosive devises did not detonate thereby limiting the carnage. A short while later, another individual killed himself and injured others detonating his improvised explosive devise across the country reminding us yet again that wolves are indeed among us. In both of these circumstances as far as I can tell, our first responders performed nothing short of admirably.
For those of you who are not familiar with the terminology I’m using, let me provide a little background and clear the air cluttered by the oft ill informed. Years ago, Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman and Loren Christensen wrote a paper called “On Killing“. It was a call to action against TV, Move and video game violence. Lt. Col. Grossman was (only part of his extensive resume) an Army Ranger and taught at West Point. In the paper Lt. Col. Grossman wrote in part “Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” He went on to say that “Then there are the wolves. And the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. Do you believe that there are wolves out there who feed on the flock without mercy? You’d better believe it. There are evil men in this world capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that that or pretend that it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.”
“Then there are the sheepdogs….If you have no capacity for violence , then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, you are an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence and a deep love* for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who walks the hero’s path. You are able to walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia and walk out unscathed.” Many people over the years have twisted the words, found fault with the term warrior, and criticized this teaching. Frankly, the only real problem I have with it is the “unscathed” portion of it. Never happens. *John 15:13
Now that we all understand were the terms come from and what they really mean, lets talk about what we do now that we have to acknowledge that the wolves are inside the fence. The way I see it, there are four things that we can all do, and living in fear inside our houses isn’t one of them. If you are part of the first responder corps or military, train as though someone’s life depends on it. If you are not, be vigilant and when stuff isn’t right, report it. If you are trained to carry, carry. And, finally…support each other.
Training can be a an unending grind. All of us can lose sight of our objective(s). But, if you are a first responder or in the military, you have to have the self discipline to train as though lives depend on it. Including your life. I have spent most of my career teaching others how to do various high liability tasks in law enforcement, so I say this with complete confidence: you will only rise to the level of your training in a crisis. You will absolutely not rise to the level of your fantasies or hopes.
Over and over again as these tragedies make news, I hear and read the same series of things: “The suspect posted their intentions on social media.” “The suspect acted strangely in the days leading up to the event.” “The suspect purchased_______(you fill in the blank).” And so on and so on. These two most recent incidents were apparently no different. That means that people knew or suspected that they were wolves or becoming wolves.. They either knew and did nothing or knew and reported it and the authorities did nothing. In most cases, people did nothing. It’s not because they don’t care. People care busy. They are scared of sociopathic wolves and distrusting of police to keep their reporting information confidential. They are fearful of overreactions by law enforcement and slew of other quite frankly valid reasons.
Put quite simply, our country’s safety is a partnership between good citizens and law enforcement. Without that partnership, it will fail. If you see, read, or hear something that isn’t right, report it and let the law enforcement professionals bear the burden of figuring out if they have the authority to act. Your phone call may just contain the puzzle piece needed for it all to come together.
If you are trained, carry. Over the years, statistics have shown that active shooter/murder incidents can be interrupted and stopped by an armed intervention. That intervention does not have to be law enforcement, but it should be by someone who is trained and knows what they are doing. Wading into a gunfight in plainclothes with minimal equipment is, let’s just say, the least highly hazardous and, among other things might result in you getting shot by responding law enforcement. But, if you are trained, (and lawfully allowed to carry) leaving your firearm at home, in your truck etc. is probably something you will look back on and reflect on with regret if you could have saved lives. Just remember, if you carry, it is your responsibility to know the laws and regulations in your geographic area and no matter what, you always yield to a uniform.
Finally, a piece of the puzzle that is often forgotten…supporting each other. No one component of the first responder world is more important than another (no matter our friendly rivalries). We cannot function without our dispatchers who are often overlooked and forgotten by the folks in the field. Conversely, we have to remember the folks in the field are in the thick of it day after day. Police officers get frustrated with paramedics who get frustrated with firefighters and so on, but no matter what, never allow any of that to be more than just frustration. I can tell you from experience, when you are standing beside a burning car with people inside and no way to get them out, the petty frustrations with the firefighters from the previous day fade quickly. We are and must remain a team.
There is no doubt that wolves are a part of our ecosystem. If we can remain a functional, professional team at the municipal, state and federal level, maybe, just maybe we can keep the wolves outside the damn fence.
If you or someone you know is struggling, there is help. Call 988 or if you are in the Big Bend of Florida call 211. The 2nd Alarm Project has many resources available as well (2ndalarmproject.org). If you are interested in getting notified when a new blog is posted and are not subscribed, please consider subscribing by entering your email in the “subscribe” icon on the home page. Then you’ll get an email each time a new blog is posted. If you appreciate what you have read here, please feel free to share as you are led across your social media or via email. There just might be someone out there who needs to see this content. Thank you all and stay safe.
On Beyond Blue 