The Rest Of The Story; Misleading Advertising

On Monday, February 2nd, my next veteran's profile is scheduled for print in the Mansfield News Journal. In these stories, I'm restricted to a ballpark number of 800 words; that's very challenging at times because some of these veterans have very interesting stories and there's not space enough for the complete profile in the newspaper. Having said that, I'll be including what the late Paul Harvey termed 'the REST of the story' on this forum on Mondays.

If you're not familiar with these profiles, I was asked to continue the legacy of the News Journal's late, great writer Ron Simon in profiling area veterans from the WW II, Korea and Viet Nam wars; it is an assignment I gladly accepted, a task that needs exposure. These men and women, patriot heroes all, sacrificed a segment of their lives in order to serve our country; I count it an honor and privilege to tell their stories of military service.

Monday's installment here will be amazing. Stay tuned.

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We've all been exposed to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ads on television, commonly called the 'sad dog' ads, narrated by entertainer Sarah McLachlan. In them, McLachlan's emotionally-strained voice urges Americans to donate to ASPCA before the next animal dies...which seemingly will be YOUR fault if that recurring $19/month doesn't come out of your pocket.

Don't get me wrong; my wife and I are dog-lovers of the highest degree and our two pups are terribly spoiled. But before you commit to that financial obligation, here's a few things you need to consider:

* The ASPCA is a national organization, completely separate and apart from your local animal shelter. In 2013, they gave a mere 4% of their 129 million dollar budget to local SPCAs.

* Thirty-five per cent of ASPCA's budget went to overhead in 2013, and it cost them 38 cents for every dollar raised.

*Former CEO Edwin Sayres made just short of $600,000 before leaving the organization that same year. That's $600 k from a non-profit organization.

* Animal People, a newspaper put out by an animal rights organization, claimed in an article that lawsuits have challenged the legitimacy of the ASPCA at least four times due to their mishandling of the organization's affairs.

The bottom line is this: ASPCA is a national organization which raises and spends millions of dollars every year as they see fit. Our local shelters, right here in our own counties, would make much better use of your donations, funds which would be used wisely and in a transparent manner.

Have a great day, and make it count!

Being A Better You

“The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win—you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.” 


― Jocko Willink

A couple of days ago I posted a link to one of this man's videos on YouTube, one which contains very valuable, applicable truth concerning the attitude of successful people in dealing with a failure or disappointing outcome. 

How we view failure is an attitude; do we accept it and move on or do we use it to make ourselves better? We've all experienced failure, and will continue to do so, unless we learn from it, use it as motivation to drive us to success. What you accept is what you become. If you accept failure and are comfortable with it you have unintentionally admitted to those around you that progression is only an option, that you don't want to be better than you are right this very second. Complacency and stagnation become your warm, fuzzy blanket and you're OK with that.

When I was at Mansfield PD I took the Sergeant's exam, administered by the Civil Service Commission, and failed it. Miserably. I blamed the study material that the test was based on, written by college professors with zero law enforcement experience who viewed the job from the abstractness of their university offices as they sipped their chai tea while wearing sweaters with padded elbows. They didn't know about the streets, how the real world operates; they didn't know about MPD's rules and regs, standard operating procedures or policies. Those professors didn't know local laws and courts.

Why was that test based on teachings and views of those who didn't know?

I had the opportunity to pose that very question to the chairman of the CSC in the elevator of the city building one day; his answer was, basically, that it had always been administered that way. I provided what I believed was a more common-sense approach.

Why not, I surmised, administer a promotional exam based on what we do locally and how we do it? If an officer studies intensively our rules and regulations, policies, local laws and ordinances and still doesn't achieve a score that will get him/her promoted...well, they've bettered themselves nonetheless. Time spent studying wasn't wasted.

A year later, when the next promotional test rolled around...that's what the Civil Service Commission did.

I was promoted to Sergeant.

I could have been complacent and not taken the opportunity to talk one-on-one with Attorney Roeliff Harper about how testing was administered, could have sat on the sidelines and complained about those out-of-touch professors who wrote those out-of-touch manuals and books on how policing is viewed from their ivory towers...but I didn't.

Complaining and being bitter accomplishes nothing. Learn from mistakes and disappointments, develop a path toward your goals and implement a plan that will be your vehicle to get there.

Most of all...make today count.