KIRK LAWLESS DIRECT: WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO?

WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO DO?
By: Kirk Lawless

Only God knows the time of our death. It has already been predetermined. We, as police officers, know that every shift could be our last. One hundred and seven years ago a young American poet, Alan Seeger much enamored with adventure, went to France at the beginning of WWI, and enlisted in Légion Étrangère (French Foreign Legion) feeling that a soldiers life would be a good fit for him as well, believing it was a noble cause to join the bloody fray. Like many young soldiers of that era, Seeger took to writing in his downtime. This is his most popular poem.

“I Have a Rendezvous with Death “At some disputed barricade, When Spring comes back with rustling shade, and apple blossoms fill the airI have a rendezvous with death; When Spring brings back blue days and fair. It may be he shall take my hand, and lead me into his dark land and close my eyes and quench my breath- It may be I pass him still. I have a rendezvous with death, on some scarred slope of battered hill, when spring comes round again this year and the first meadow-flowers appear. God knows ‘Twere better to be deep, pillowed in silk and scented down, where love throbs out in blissful sleep, pulse nigh to pulse and breath to breath, where hushed awakenings are dear. But I’ve a rendezvous with death, at midnight in some flaming town, when spring trips north again this year and I pledged word am true, I shall not fail that rendezvous”

The young American soldier, fighting alongside his Legionnaire comrades, died, ironically at The Battle of The Somme on the 4th of July, 1916. Young and full of vigor, he still missed the simple things in life, noticing the change of seasons and flowers blooming, love, maybe he had a girl back home. But, he had sworn an allegiance to France, and knew that death would eventually come for him. He was ready when death came for him on the battlefield. True to his word, he did not fail his rendezvous. He joined the Legion in 1914 and fought the fight, giving up the ghost at the age of 28.

Every police officer swears an oath of allegiance when he pins on the badge, and only God knows when our deaths will happen. That is a blood oath with no expiration date. So, in the course of doing your job, you cannot fret that “Ol’ Man Death” is waiting for you, and at any minute will snatch the life from you and carry you away with his bony hands. If you worry that much about being killed on the job, you should surrender your shield on seek out a more peaceful occupation.

Like young Alan Seeger, he did what was asked of him, and you coppers know what is asked of you. You don’t have to go on a “suicide mission”

Seeger didn’t. He spent two years in the French Foreign Legion before falling on the battlefield at Belloy-en-Santerre, France. He did not fail his rendezvous.

My message to all of you men and women still on the job, whether it be from “day one” or after many years of service, enjoy life, enjoy nature, your family, do not become preoccupied with your own demise, it’s a pointless worry, just do the job the way its supposed to done. Do not be a coward. Do not run away from danger. Never give up your gun! When it’s time to go, you’ll know it. Face it head on. When my time comes, I’ve already pledged my word as true; I shall not fail my rendezvous. Will you?

Kirk Lawless is a 28 year, decorated, veteran police officer from the St Louis area. He’s a former SWAT operator, narcotics agent, homicide investigator, detective and Medal of Valor recipient. Off the job due to an up close and personal gunfight, he now concentrates on writing. He’s a patriotic warrior, artist, poet, actor, musician, and man of peace.