2008, January 01: “Ya Think?”

“YA THINK?”

WHAT A PERSON THINKS IN HIS HEART, HE WILL BE

NCIS is one of the few things we have come to enjoy on TV. Mark Harmon (son of the well known football coach, Tom Harmon) has a way of saying things, one of which is “Ya think?” It’s usually heralded right after something very obvious. And now it’s creeping into ads and even our own phrases. There a lot more to that than “Ya might think” and the New Year is a solid, just right time to consider it.

There is a verse in the Good Book where the Lord says, what a person thinks in his heart is who and what he or she is. It took psychology a long time to pick up on it but today it’s one of the most common and effective therapies.

As we head into the New Year consider what might be called a couple “pin drop moments” to see if some of the political/social/media themes have infused a part of your thought processes.

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by the President. He answered by saying, ‘Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.’
You could have heard a pin drop.

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane.  At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.  “You have been to France before, monsieur?” the customs officer asked sarcastically.  Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. “Then you should know enough to have your passport ready!” The American said, ”The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.” “Impossible! Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !” The old man gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ”Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find anyone to check it.”
You could have heard a pin drop.

There was a conference on the continent in which a number of international engineers were taking part, including those from Germany, Britain, Belgium, Netherlands, France and America. During a break, one of the European engineers came back into the room saying,  “Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done?  He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?”
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: “Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. How many did your country send?”
You could have heard a pin drop.

Most of the chatter we hear today is on par with the mentality shown in those “pin drop moments” above. Those perceptions are not just about police but are also antithetical to the principles upon which our profession is based. They are perceptions too often fueled by willful ignorance and malice which in any other context would be considered bigotry. Few lines are ever written about the real and positive impact you have and certainly not about its impact upon you and your loved ones.

Most damning is the propensity we have to absorb the mindset as our own cynicism sets in. The New Year is a great moment to do a reality check and make certain our vision is not clouded by those perceptions organized, propagated and reinforced by the carriers of information and the attitudes which are capitalized upon for various agendas. If we come to believe it, we will be as wrong as they. If we lose sight of our Real Reason for being and doing, we’ll be as blind as they and more than ever at their mercy.

There is sound psychology in the Lord’s statement – as a person thinks in his heart, that is who and what he or she is. Who and what are we? New Year is a time for inventory before resolutions. So as Midnight, January First ticks past you can choose to sing a mental Auld Lang Syne or make a fresh start. At the end of the Bible there is this comment from God: “Behold, I make all things new.”

Ya Think?

Stay safe and you have been prayed for.