Act of Kindness from a Police Officer

Robin Sutherland learned that her 90-year-old mother was going into hospice care. Later that same day, Sutherland was pulled over for speeding in Somerville. While the female officer went back to her car to give Sutherland a warning, Sutherland says she started crying. "I just realized when we lose my mother I'm the older generation now and it just hit me," she said. The officer asked her to take it easy and sent her on her way. Later that evening, Somerville Officer Ashley Catatao sent Sutherland a bouquet of flowers and a note which said, "I'm very sorry about your mother. I hope you find comfort in knowing she lived a long life and will continue to live on in your heart and in your memories. "The note was signed, "Officer who pulled you over this morning." On Thursday, Catatao was celebrated by Somerville's Mayor and the Deputy Chief of Police. Catatao said her actions were just a simple gesture. "We do things like this all the time. It just doesn't get much notice in the press. I was just doing what I know most people would have done anyways. It just seemed so natural to me," she said. For Sutherland, the gesture was very meaningful. "For her to go out of her way for someone who was having kind of a tough day, it was just amazing," she said.

The story about the officer’s act of kindness touched my heart. It was surprising to see a positive story on the news, because those are very rare. However, seeing this particular story was not just surprising but shocking, since there has been so much negativity regarding law enforcement coming from the media lately. Taking advantage of the massive feedback and tension that the stories about police have caused, the media has blown the situation out of proportions. They made it seem like those few bad stories that they exposed to the public make up a full picture. The officer’s comment from the interview mentioned above justifies how misinformed the public is. Sadly, the public believes in what the media wants it to believe. Instead of thinking critically, we blindly follow the crowd. We label people, without trying to see past stereotypes. That is how nowadays all black people are “uneducated and mean”, all Latinos are “illegal immigrants”, all Asians “come from China and eat dogs”, etcetera; the list of stereotypes goes on a long ways. The media encourages this type of thinking, and one can notice that just by looking at the titles in the press: they often point out one’s religion, ethnicity, profession, and so on. However, looking at the story above, does it matter that it was a female Latino police officer who gave flowers to a Caucasian woman? No. It is simply a story about two people. Does it mean that there is no need to label and point fingers if the context is not negative? The media seems to think so.

People are people, and it is important to remember that. We identify ourselves with certain groups, but sometimes it is important to be able to view an individual separately from his or her group. An individual shouldn’t be blamed for a whole group, as well as a group should not be blamed for actions of an individual.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/massachusetts-police-officer-sends-flowers-to-woman-pulled-over-for-speeding/

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 753