And So It Begins.
They need to hear this.
So says an entrusted friend and colleague. This journey that I am about to undertake is five years in the making. It is the result of a classic battle that rages within every person. Are we ready to confront the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be? Are we really prepared to examine ourselves, our communities, or dare we say life as we know it? That’s what we are about to do. It has taken me five years because I have been convinced that people do not want to know the truth about the world in which they live as it relates to criminal behavior.
They need to hear this. Throughout my 28-year career as a protective professional, I have encountered the darkest corners of the human soul. I have lived on both sides of the law. As of this writing, I sometimes still wonder what side of the law I find myself. In the end, it doesn’t matter. What matters is this point going forward. What matters is leaving this world in a better condition in which I currently observe it. So, after five years, I am convinced that my lifelong friend was right. You need to hear this.
There is no bottom to the possibility of human depravity. That pit is bottomless. It is too late to save someone once they have fallen into it. The best we can hope for, as protective professionals that have ensconced ourselves into a world of darkness, is to keep people from falling into that pit in the first place.
The most disconcerting fact that I have had to face throughout my career is that deviants shoulder only half the blame for the damage done to society. In reality, the damage inflicted by the most vile in our midst is probably far less horrifying. The damage done by do-gooders out of hubris coupled with the most miniscule of good intentions is far more troublesome. I am now more convinced than I have ever been that those that allow evil to flourish are far worse than those whose most primal instincts guide their behavior.
I sympathize with Jacob as he wrestled with God and ultimately had his hip displaced. Like Jacob, I have wrestled with God for years. My joust with the Creator arose out of purpose. I was chasing deeds, when I should have been chasing purpose as he directed me. You can wrestle with God all you wish. You can wrestle with the truth all you wish. The end result will be the same. You will bend to his will. My purpose has been laid bare before me:
They need to hear this. So be it.
Going forward, many will argue that I am a disruptor. I stand guilty as charged. Many will propose that I am only pointing out issues without real solutions. Already, we have exposed the first lie. By exposing failures, half-truths, and lies disguised as wisdom, the solution has already been born. Stop doing that which bears no fruit or worse, brings harm to those in which it is meant to heal.
Our criminal adversaries live in a world that is incomprehensible. They govern themselves by a moral code and a set of laws that are foreign to the civilized world. They see the world through a prism of primal nature rather than social and cultural normalcy. They see the world through a lens that is only black and white. In that world, you are either holding the knife and fork, or you are the one lying on the plate. There is no middle ground, and no room for ambiguity.
The other side of this coin is the sheepdog. These are the police officers, prosecutors, and security gurus that guide contemporary thought as to how best rid the world of the plague of crime. There are those in our midst, with the best of intentions, that promote the idea that the sheep must be protected from the wolf. The problem arises however when maxims such as “best practices,” “legal,” and “ethical” enter into the conversation. They are incompatible with the war that rages between righteousness and evil. They stifle progress. After all, we should all be grateful that the likes of Henry Ford did not adhere to best practices, or we’d all still be in a wagon sniffing the exhaust end of a horse.
Darkness succumbs to light. In fact, the light not only overcomes darkness, it stares right back at it. Light exposes darkness for what it is: evil. There is academic and philosophical merit in trying to understand why darkness is evil. But at the most basic level, identifying it is the most important thing a protective professional can accomplish.
My purpose is very clear. I will expose the underbelly of a world that you wish didn’t exist. You will enter into a room and hear the screams of a father whose 15-year-old daughter just died after being shot in the mouth by a .40 caliber handgun. You will envision a mental patient slashing her wrists with a broken lens from her eyeglasses. You will encounter a man that attempted suicide with a shotgun and lost his entire face but survived. You will delve into death penalty cases and meet not only the condemned, but those he or she condemned as well. And most uncomfortably, you will be taken into a world that many cannot understand, because to dip your toes into that water is the most dangerous thing one can do. I did that once, and I lost a toe. You never get it back once it’s gone. That was the birth of the Evil Magistrate.
And for those of you that have sworn an oath to stand in the face of evil. I applaud you. But understand me well. I will be the stone that you stumble over in the darkness of your misguided professional and moral worldview. No longer will I sit idly by and watch innocents be slaughtered, literally and figuratively, because of your professional malfeasance. Those days are over. That train of thought has left the station never to return.
Writin’ is fightin’. Conveying raw truth through words is the toughest battle I’ve waged. It’s not just a desire- it’s a compulsion. I have tales that demand to be told. You need to hear this.
To my detractors:, I thank you in advance. Your barbs were foretold. A prophet has no honor in his own country, as a far greater Gentleman once said, exposing darkness with unmatched grace
And so it begins.
