There's also good

It's hard to figure the ratio, but it does add up that for every bad person in any profession, you'll find x amount of good ones. I'm saying you can shop at a grocery store for months on end and be treated kindly by the people working there, and then one day the kid slicing your mortadella gives you a little attitude. That doesn't mean that everyone there is a nincompoop.

Yes, there are nasty doctors and nail technicians and refuse collectors and state senators and bakers and government clerks and DJs and newspaper editors and the list goes on. But we have learned, one bad apple doesn't ruin the applesauce.

Which is why I wanted to share this release from the Howard County (Maryland) Police: 

As a woman and her mother took their regular walk around the Columbia Lakefront recently, they were confronted by a stranger who threatened them with a homemade knife. They called 911; the man fled but was later arrested by Police Officer Lily Schmulowitz. When PO Schmulowitz made a follow-up visit to the victims, she learned that they felt nervous and reluctant to resume their walks around the lake. So she took community policing to the next level and organized a group of officers to accompany the women on their walk. 

Officer Schmulowitz

PO Schmulowitz was joined by the watch commander, patrol supervisor, platoon members and neighborhood resource officers to help restore a sense of security for these two shaken-up local residents. After the walk, the officers provided refreshments and spent time with the women, focusing on ways to help them feel safe. The kind of empathy and compassion shown by PO Schmulowitz and this team of officers is just one of many examples of the HCPD’s commitment to ensuring people feel safe and are safe in our communities. We don’t just serve the community…we are proud to be a part of it.

It seems to me that if more police took the initiative to meet the public where they live, and see their needs rather than their faults, and if people started looking at the world through the eyes of people who are sworn to serve and protect and all too often have to dodge verbal brickbats and real bullets, we might get somewhere. Not all police are perfect or even close to it. Lots of them would never do what Officer Schmulowitz did in Columbia. Just look at the movie currently being filmed here about the crooked city police who robbed drug dealers, stole their money, resold their stashes, and framed innocent people for murders they committed. Every time something like that happens, it ruins a huge lot of good will that good police have engendered. 

But then, look at what Officer Schmulowitz did. She didn't give up being a good person and neither should anyone...including you and I.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” - Theodore Roosevelt