Changing the World, One Word at a Time

Many, many, many moons ago I was at the gym and had a chance to overhear a conversation. One man was giving a hard time to another man. The first man -- the complainer -- was tall, thin and had shaggy brown hair. The second man was shorter, blonde and had a striking resemblance to Brendan Fehr.

As it turns out, the Shaggy Man had somehow discovered the blonde guy was a local police officer and spent more than an hour forcing questions and opinions on the blonde guy. The blonde guy -- let's call him A Cop -- spent that more than an hour calmly answering questions, letting Shaggy Man know why DUI applies to driving while high and that police procedure is designed to protect both parties. 

I walked past the two on numerous occasions as I passed between different pieces of workout equipment and overheard bits and pieces of the conversation, but what I did pick up on was the officer's calm professional demeanor, his willingness to answer questions on his own time and the way he didn't at any time tell Shaggy Man to leave him alone or walk away.

I was so impressed by the officer's behavior that I sent my city council man an email letting me know they had a good officer on staff. In response I received a an email from the local commander who thanked me for my kind words.

Fast forward a couple of years and I'm at the gym again. I randomly start talking to a guy I see there all the time but have never spoken with, a man who looks a lot like Brendan Fehr. The guy I was talking to told me he was training for an MMA-style fight, that he is a prior service marine sniper and that he is a local police officer.

And then it hit me why he looked so familiar. Not because he looked enough like an actor to pass himself off as the actor's brother, nor because I saw him at the gym all the time, but because I've spoken to him in the past. I reminded him of that day years earlier and let him know I was so impressed with his behavior and mannerisms that I contacted my city council person and let him know.

The officer's eyes brightened and he said, thank you. "That changed my career, man. I was awarded a commendation and the Chief took me under his wing. They offered me a number of positions. Thank you."

As it turns out, a simple well deserved kind word can change a life. 

I told him it was nothing, that I believe in giving credit where credit is due.