| Let's Get Real ... About power trips |
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| Thursday, 02 April 2009 21:57 |
Advice fromLAURIE Much has been written and said about the incident where Dallas Police Officer Robert Powell pulled over Ryan Moats, a Bishop Lynch graduate and current running back for the Houston Texans. As most of us know, Moat's ran a red light rushing to his dying mother-inlaw's bed at Baylor Hospital in Plano. Obviously this story has touched many people in many ways, some positively, some not so positively. In the past weeks, I have discussed this incident with friends and relatives, but it was not until I actually watched the video cam from the police dashboard that my heart sank and tears came to my eyes. Personally, I don't think the officer was any different than any other officer I have seen or heard about in his tone. However, when the officer was told that Ryan's mother-in-law was close to death and yet totally blew that off, that moment changed the whole story for me. Just think how many brownie points Powell would have actually earned, if he just said, “Hey, ok, I'll humor this law-breaking citizen and escort him into the hospital emergency room, stay with him, and if he is a fake and just trying to get out of a ticket, and there is no dying mother, I will gain big points with the force by writing up a series of really juicy tickets. “Or, if there really is a dying mother, then I will be commended for accompanying the family in there with great haste.” But this didn't happen. He blabbed his way through the passing away of Moats’ mother-in-law. Powell has now resigned from his job and apologized for his behavior. Moats has accepted the apology. That is wonderful. Big kudos for forgiveness. Although, in the back of my mind, I still wonder what personality disorder caused all this to happen. Seriously, why was he unable to feel the words of someone saying they needed to be with a dying loved one in a hospital parking lot? What caused him to feel nothing when he was told what was going on, but rather get all uppity and righteous? Or better yet, we could take a look at the big spiritual picture and bypass psychology altogether. Every event in life can be used to the good, it can either serve to show a positive way of dealing with something difficult, or be used as a lesson for what not to do. In the big scheme of things, could Moats and Powell have made a pre-life agreement to be part of this situation so that many people can see the event and its results as a means to become better people themselves? Maybe Powell and Moats were soul mates, and in this life, Moats chose to play the one to whom the “misjustice” was done and Powell, an equally loving soul, chose to be the perpetrator of the “misjustice,” so this could outrage the currently living souls enough to look at how they handle their own lives. The sad reality to this story is that one individual on a power trip forgot to treat another human being with compassion and separated a family that deserved to be alone together with their dying loved one. |
