Violent Weekend

My career path led me to Homicide several years ago. I can't explain exactly what it is that drew me to this line of work, but it is very rewarding in its own way. However, there are times when I wonder just what in the Hell was I thinking.

This past Labor Day weekend has been one for the books. I have made three scenes in three days, not to mention being involved in an incident myself last Friday. I noticed when we were processing the scene on Friday that the moon was going to be a full one. I also knew that we were in store for a very long weekend....Little did I know....

For those that don't know, HPD Homicide works several rotations simultaneously. It is quite confusing to those that don't actually work it, but it's actually quite simple. Long story short, we normally work weekends for a month about every six months. The other ten months of the year, we have weekends off. Everyone knows that when weekend duty begins, the potential is there to work a number of scenes. But, it is rare to get three in one weekend. We normally average three to four scenes throughout the entire month we work weekends.

Because this weekend was so busy, I began to wonder just what it is that makes people so violent on occassion. I don't blame the moon. It was full and I believe that to be a pure coincidence. But, there must be some kind of explanation. The way I figure it, there must be some kind of a scientific explanation as to why violence tends to increase on some holidays. Labor Day and Thanksgiving are the two most violent holiday weekends I know of. Now, I have no solid backing on that statement. That's just my experience.

Do any of you have any explanations to offer?

President Obama Speaking to Students

Ok, for those of you that know me, this post may be a shock. I, like many others, have heard that next Tuesday, President Obama is going to speak to students. He plans to do this at 12:00 p.m. eastern time. Parents immediately started raising all kins of Hell because they did not want their children subjected to having to listen to the President speak. Why?

Well, I think there are a number of reasons. But, I don't particularly care what the reasons are, I say the man was elected President of the United States. He has a message he wants to give our children about staying in school. His target audience should be in class at that time all across the country. Let the man give his speech to the kids.

Now, as a parent, I am not offended by my children being "subjected" to the President's message at all. I know my kids will talk to me about it when they get home and tell me their thoughts. We will have an intelligent and informed discussion. Quite frankly, I think this may be the only issue that the President and I agree on. Kids need to stay in school.

Now, if a parent has a severe objection to having their child hear the President speak, then I guess they should take their child out of the class for that speech. But, what kind of a message are we sending our kids by doing that? If I disagree with you on an issue, then we will disagree. I will not dodge seeing you or hearing your speeches. That is completely childesh. I think it sends the wrong message.

A better message to send our children is hear what everyone has to say. Educate yourself by reading media from various sources. I rarely trust just the news sources. I also read periodicals, listen to talk radio, read articles on the Internet, all in an effort to ensure I at least have an educated opinion.

Sometimes, I am still wrong.....

What do you think?