You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
The gift.
A white cop. A black woman. A very large 10 year old boy.
I’m seated at a table covered in football equipment. A mouth piece, a face shield, a size 11 pair of cleats.
The boy is in 5th grade. He is gargantuan. He is a mini version of Shaq.
“I’m very grateful to the officer,” he says, his words sincere and heartfelt.
The officer smiles. It’s been a tough few months for the men in blue.
It’s been a long hot summer of Black Lives Matter protests and officer involved shootings and police assassinations.
“This is a powerful message,” his mother tells me. “there are still good officers,” she says.
The boy is a budding football player and to play on his youth football team, he needs equipment.
“I didn’t know how I would buy it,” the mother says.
She knows the cop through a series of police visits that probably started out less than friendly. But along the way, the cop meets the 10 year old boy and he is impressed.
“He has a strong handshake and he looks me in the eye. He’s smart. If he wants to play football, I’d rather he’s out on the practice field than walking the streets,” the officer says.
The climate is anxious, sandpaper on an open wound.
The cop says he has the money and he wants to help make a difference. So he takes the boy shopping and gets him set up.
I see a video of the child mowing over another player. It’s like watching an egg drop off a balcony at spring break.
SPLATT!
The boy is a monster. He is thick and fast and smart. He’s only 10, but I can see him starting in the NFL in 12 or 13 years.
“I think he can play college,” the cop says. “If I can help…” His words trail off.
He is a good cop. The kind of cop who got into the job to help others, to make his community better, safer.
He knows that he wears a badge and during this summer of discontent, he is a target for criticism.
The cop thanks me for telling his story. It’s uplifting and shows that we can all live together peacefully.
I know that sooner or later a cop will shoot someone or someone will shoot a cop. I know that there will be anger and hatred and discontent.
I know that people will protest and lay down on the interstate and throw rocks at the law on some dark street somewhere.
But for now, at this very moment, a white cop and a black family are all sitting at the same table, hugging and laughing and talking about a community that cares for one another.
And for now, for this moment, that’s good enough for me.
Life’s Crazy™