Justice

I can definitely see myself as the person who changes up careers. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I ended up doing nursing, law enforcement, and firefighting over the span of my lifetime.

That law enforcement bit may shock some people, but I think I would really enjoy doing investigations. I enjoy digging for clues, imagining all of the possibilities, understanding people's motives and what makes them tick, and eventually putting all of the pieces together. I would love to spend some time busting up drug and gang operations. One of my secret dreams is to work undercover to bust meth operations. I hate meth. It's by far the most evil and destructive drug in America right now.

The thing that bothers me about law enforcement is that regardless of how much the criminal deserves it, your actions often result in the devastation of their life. I'm not saying that LEOs are evil or bad at all, in fact, I respect them highly because of their ability to cope with that fact. They see crazy, evil, disturbing things just as much as anyone who works in EMS, but they have the responsibility of inflicting harm. Yes, the ends justify the means and they are keeping everyone safe, saving lives, and making society better, but to reach that goal they have to make life worse for certain people.

The event that really made this clear for me was my participation with law enforcement in a bust. I can't divulge too much information, but I will tell you that I was trying to purchase items from businesses that they were not legally allowed to sell to me while an investigator observed. Out of the countless businesses that I visited that day, only one was busted. Was it some seedy, immoral crook with a rap sheet a mile long that did the illegal deed?

Of course not. It was a very pleasant and friendly old man who was just running the family business and unfortunately made a mistake. An illegal and costly mistake.

I felt like utter shit. It gave me endless respect for the men and women of law enforcement who deal with these nagging moral dilemmas on a daily basis. We all want justice, but how many of us could wield the force of it while looking into the eyes of another human being who has for one reason or another, found themselves on the wrong side of the law?