Does anybody know somebody who is a police officer, or some kind of first responder or military? Many of you probably have someone either in the family or close to the family who is, even if you don’t know it. Now let me ask you, do you always think of them as that? As just a police officer, or firefighter, or staff sergeant? Most of you probably don’t think of them as simply that. To many of you, they are identified as other things; mom or dad, brother or sister, friend or coworker. There is no difference. When we see them, we call them by name, and we think of them as the people that they are. We would never want to lose those people. Our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. We would never wish harm on them. But for some reason, when they don the uniform, and risk their lives to protect us, some of us see them as a threat. And we not only wish harm on them, we do harm. What I’m saying is simply that; if we would never wish harm on our family and friends, why would we suddenly wish it on them when they do their job to protect this civilization? When a police officer is shot, we think of it as simply that; a police shooting. But it’s more than that. It’s the murder of not only an officer, or staff sergeant, but also a mother or daughter, father or son. They aren’t just the person in the uniform. They are much more.Which is why we should respect them and thank them, instead of profiling them or acting violently towards them. Emergency personnel serve to protect citizens; those that serve deserve our respect rather than being attacked while trying to serve, help, and protect citizens.