An Honorable Man

An honorable man gets up early and goes to work even though he has done so all week, and he's tired.
An honorable man serves a community that can care less, a mayor that does not understand the depth and gravity and danger of his job, and a general public that second-guesses anything and everything that he and his colleagues are called to do.
An honorable man does so with patience---for they know not what they do---and only in the privacy of his home, shakes his head at the chaos that surrounds.
I am proud to be married to an honorable man. So many members of  the NYPD are just like him, but they are not the ones that the media seeks.
It's a shame.
New York City hosted the UN General Assembly last week, we received a visit from Pope Francis, Yom Kippur fell on Wednesday, Eid on Thursday...and the President came to town yesterday.
It was a long, hard, tiring week for the NYPD.
In the midst of all these events, there was massive coverage needed in so many streets and avenues. So much so that the Police Academy took the recruits out onto the streets and had them doing things like directing traffic, and providing support for the long-standing members of the NYPD. The recruits are fresh and new, and I would hazard a guess a bit intimidated by the other cops. During one of his details, my husband saw a young recruit in the midst of a busy intersection seeming a bit overwhelmed. When my husband approached him, he saluted him, and gave him the "Yes Sir" treatment.
My husband asked the kid when was the last time he had a break?
It had been a while.
My husband then told the kid to go take a break, grab a coffee...take a personal minute. He remembers all too well that feeling: of being new, overwhelmed, and eager to do the best possible job.
The kid was surprised and grateful. My husband then jumped into the intersection and took over for about fifteen minutes.
Because that's what an honorable man does.