Before starting work the other day, I drove to Court House to visit my mother. As I was heading south on the Garden State Parkway to Rio Grande to the Herald offices, I was passed by a New Jersey State Park police car, obviously in a real hurry, but without his lights and siren on. I followed him to Cape May Point at almost 95 mph on the parkway and somewhat slower through town.
When we stopped in the Point, he asked me why I was following him. I said, you were going so fast without your lights and siren on; that is not right. The local police don’t do that. They care about what the people think of them, and we all work together to build our community. What you just did creates division between the people and the police. It is disrespectful of us. Aren’t we all on the same team, trying to improve our community? The police need the support of the community, and the community needs to support the police. He looked at me like I was from Mars.
I’m extremely grateful for the courageous people who formed our country and who are fighting as I write this, to preserve it. They put everything on the line to create our wonderful country. The men and women in our military today do no less. I believe that the internal challenges our nation faces today are as important to confront as any external force we’ve ever faced or currently face.
The spirit which built this nation must remain alive so that our children and grandchildren may experience the same happiness in being Americans that we have enjoyed. Am I overly passionate? No, I am not. The gratitude I feel is inexpressible. To do in return less than was done for me would diminish me in my own eyes; I would feel like a child who never came to fill the shoes of those who came before me.
In the country which we inherited from our forefathers, the people are in charge, not the government. The people establish the government, and the government takes its direction from the people. Whenever we lose sight of this fact, we enable the government to start to think of itself as being in control; this starts to erode the foundation of our nation.
One might say, “Come on, Art. You are making far too much of a policeman speeding down the road. It’s just a little thing, right?” No it’s not. Nobody is above the law. It is not a little thing for a policeman to disregard the law. It is like the broken window in a community which is never repaired, or a lawn left to go to seed. First thing you know, the neighborhood starts to deteriorate. The little things are all-important. Growing up I was taught, take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.
Art Hall
From the Bible: Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Romans 12:10
Cape May County – I believe it is time that California be returned to the indigenous people who lived there. They understood the land and the weather and built dwellings made as part of the earth and took care of the…
