Monday, April 9, 2012

Top o' the Mornin', Office Friendly!

Joss looks up during her treatments, which we're performing at the train station. She spots a cop and she yells, "Look! A police office!"

Living in the big city all my life, I wonder at her malaprop.

Well, first I laughed at her malaprop. But now I wonder, too.

I wonder what's so new and exciting about seeing a police officer that got her so anxious. And then I remember that we don't have walking cops on the beat anymore. Even though she lives two blocks from a police station, seeing a cop outside of her cruiser is rare and maybe a bit odd.

At her age, most kids still view all cops as heroes. Mostly because that's how the police are presented to them. They keep them safe. That - at this stage - is all they need to know to make them heroes. I certainly don't want to shatter that image, certainly ot when she's of an age to not understand nuance.

But it'd be nice if she and her friends could see these heroes walking around a bit more often and being a bit more human.

I'd love for fewer urban preschoolers to be astonished when they see a cop. It'd be nice and reassuring to hear more say, "Good morning, police office!"

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