I’ve been talking to you about the way several things have affected me. I’m just wondering - there’s the problem the police have in doing their job, the problem as I see them achieving it. I do have a lot of empathy for a police officer. I think they’re really up against it because we see more and more that their hands are tied because of the judicial system. Of course, a lot of empathy is because we’ve worked together - policemen and firefighters together in a lot of tragic situations. Camaraderie - I don’t know what you want to call it, or what I want to call it.

I guess like everybody else I wish there was a better system, better way of achieving success in law enforcement and being effective. I feel they’re doing the best they can under the circumstances. We can count on them, but I feel frustrated for them.

A feeling I’ve long held is that there’s not enough respect given to “thy neighbour”, and I don’t feel there’s enough respect given to each individual. I think there’s a general lack of respect for one’s self. I think that’s what it stems from. If you have respect for yourself you’ll treat others in the same way.

I wish there were a way we could foster that respect in society as a group. I think that because of the number of ways that we’re all being pulled, that our youngsters aren’t being given the chance to respect themselves. I guess the more that I acknowledge the feeling the more frustrating it becomes - for me at least. I wish, like so many other people, that we could fix things, make it different, make it better.

I think there’s more and more fear in our society. I think most prejudice is about fear.

Like with an experience I had two years ago with a group of teenagers in the neighbourhood in dealing with those boys when they endangered and threatened my young daughter. I retaliated, naturally, in anger. I threatened those boys regarding any further harassment of my daughter or my family. The boys retaliated, as I expected they would, and they vandalized my vehicle. Three of the boys in the group are from broken homes, and the one boy who lives up the street from me is also from a broken home. Later I met with this boy and actually expressed my feelings and concerns and my anger. I felt a certain elation, a sense of relief, that I’d actually been able to meet with the boy and explain my initial anger which had caused him to retaliate. After we’d spoken I felt that he had a much better understanding of my position in the incident - my anger - my expectations, and I think he had a better understanding of how I felt about him, that I did think he was a good kid - a good, worthy person. I think we both left with a feeling of mutual respect and that’s all I wanted to achieve in the first place and all that I want with any person I meet.

Rick Souter
Firefighter

Update: Rick retired from fire fighting some time ago. He has moved from the North Shore and works now as a freelance building inspector.