Lessons Learned: Paying it forward

It has been said that the more things change the more things stay the same. I am often reminded that we have experienced more change in most of our lifetimes than any previous generation, or many generations put together for that matter, due primarily to rapid fire technological advancements.

And change, even technological changes for the better, are hard. Just ask my longtime veteran officer colleague and friend. After realizing that his small town police department must modernize into the computer era and dedicating time to update his own level of computer knowledge, he was met with resistance from his fellow department members.

But technology aside, the human experience hasn’t really changed much has it? It was a real blessing when I was given the opportunity to work for a former Baltimore city police officer during my own teen years spent in retail in an era long past. I was already convinced that I wanted to become a police officer myself and the stories and shared experiences told to me solidified my desire even further.

Years later, I was assigned a criminal justice student as a ride along participant and shared my stories and experiences with him in the process. He too, went on to become a Baltimore city police officer as I had done.

As I get older, in spite of the constant change, I am fully aware that our fundamental human needs of affection, belonging and recognition remain the same.

This takes me even further back to my own childhood in the mid to late 1960’s. For the first eleven years of my lifetime I was raised in an apartment complex. The neighbors above us (with whom we shared a telephone “party-line”) were a sister and her two brothers who lived in one apartment together. We affectionately referred to them as Miss Smith, Mr. Smith the mailman (a postal carrier) and Mr. Smith the fisherman (a retired commercial fisherman and boat captain).

As a pre-teen and over the course of many warm and sunny days during several seasons of both the spring and summer I developed quite a relationship with Mr. Smith the fisherman. As my tanned and wrinkled friend would set up his folding lawn chair in the grass in front of our building (in preparation to feeding the squirrels peanuts in the shell) I would be riding my bicycle around the sidewalks of our outdoor courtyard within his view. I would frequently stop and talk to him learning about his lifetime and lessons learned as I provided to him a view of the world from the eyes of a then seven, eight or nine year old. I then would ask “Do you want to see me ride my bike?” and as he would shake his head yes he would watch me take off around and around our courtyard once again. Those precious memories of time spent with my friend Mr. Smith the fisherman has stayed with me all of these some fifty plus years later.

Now fast forward to more recent times. I found that I had become the “Mr. Smith the fisherman” in the life of a young man who likes to talk to me as I share tales of my lifetime and lessons

learned and as he confided his view of the world through his then seven year old eyes to me. Then he would go off as I watched him and my grandchildren play together. I did this with great admiration and joy. I bet Mr. Smith the fisherman must have experienced the same sense of joy with me. I can see that now.

Sometimes, the daily ins and outs of life tend to get us down. In a world full of constant change and turmoil it is our traditional values, basic human needs and special times shared that will surely see us through. Although law enforcement is suffering tough times right now, it is my hope that shared experiences of making a positive difference will win the day in the eyes and desires of our generations both young and old. May every child or retiree have or become a “Mr. Smith the fisherman” or encouraging police veteran in their lifetime. It is what really matters in the large scheme of things. It turns out that in many respects the more things change the more things stay the same after all.

Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the Preston County seat of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com