"Pride, Integrity, Guts"

After reading all of my classmates' blogs, one in particular got me to do a little bit of thinking about something I've pondered for years now. It was a statement that was not addressed any further than its induction into an otherwise pretty unorganized argument against I'm not sure what. Briefly, this classmate commented about instances in which people would choose to take care of something themselves rather than getting the cops involved. I understand it was not necessarily the thesis of the post, but I'd like it to be mine, more or less. I have two strong beliefs from which my disdain for police stems. One is just a general principle from which I have been guiding my life for as long as I can remember. The second is specific to police and is drawn from my experiences with them, my friends' experiences with them, and everything else I know about them that I've learned through various sources.

For my entire cognitive life (and even beyond), I've taken care of myself to the best of my ability, and within the next couple of years, I am going to be completely independent (of my parents, namely). Even as a small child, my parents could bring or leave me anywhere, and I'd be perfectly content with my own company, not having to rely on others to be there to keep me occupied. I don't hesitate to, but I very rarely ask for help with anything. People are unpredictable, and that is one of myriad reasons why I do not like to rely on anyone but myself. Thus stems my principle disdain for police, government, systems, etc. - I can handle my own shit, and I don't need you or anybody else dipping their grubby paws into my business. All too often I get the impression that the government and its seemingly infinite and omnipresent stretches feel obligated to take care of our lives for us, because somehow we're just petty pieces of a larger machine that can't operate without some sort of superior. On the contrary, however, should a time ever come when I'm no longer capable of handling myself or my things, I will ask of you only one thing: a gun and a bullet. Fuck health care, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, Social Security, and the like. The hell if I'm going to burden a society that's burdened me my whole life.

I went to a hardcore show in Berkley a few weeks ago. On one of the walls in the venue, a band hung a banner that read, "FUCK COPS". Being on the same page, I captured a picture of it with my phone and set it as my external wallpaper. Most ironically, I was arrested later that night for something I'd rather not discuss. This banner and my picture played no role for the rest of the night; it was merely an unfortunate observation that I wanted to point out.

However, this is a topic that I would love to discuss with a cop if ever given the chance, and it brings me to the second root of my resentment toward police. My current impression of cops, which is subject and completely welcome to change by anything that comes my way, is highly unfavorable. All experiences I've had or been privy to that cops were involved in have me convinced that their espoused purpose of serving and protecting is blatantly neglected, not to mention the fact that I don't need anybody to serve or protect me. If given the chance, I would hastily refurbish every cop car in the country to read, "To harm and steal." Fathom this scenario: a man driving his vehicle safely and soundly, disrupting no one and in danger of harming nobody, gets stopped at a DUI checkpoint on an empty freeway at 1:30 in the morning. He is over the legal limit, though by no means drunk. The cops arrest him, impound his car, and he now has numerous fees totaling thousands of dollars and a smudge on his record for up to ten years. Show me where any good was done here, where anybody was served and protected, and I swear to (a) god I will kiss the next pig I see right on his fat fucking cheek.

I could craft a list of plausible scenarios like that to last for days, but in the name of brevity, I'll leave it at that. Seeing how this is not an essay, research paper, or anything like that, I'm going to wrap this up pretty casually with some final thoughts.

Against my will, I get to chip into a fund that supports a legitimate force that in recent times seems to have come to an understanding that they can basically do whatever they want to whomever they please.

Against my will, I have to follow laws applied universally that were meant to protect us from ourselves. I have to follow these laws despite the fact I'm not the idiot who created their precedent, despite the fact I'm not the idiot who goes around dabbling in everybody's life, despite the fact I'm not going to harm anybody by breaking any of these laws.

Against my will, I am surrounded by citizens who will never have the time of day to question what they unwittingly accept (everything) and thus I will continue to ebb deeper into frustration over current conditions.

Against my will, I have to struggle simply to carry on.

vocab words: omnipresent, unwitting(ly), ebb