During my years with the Lee County Sheriffs Office I ran across some pretty stupid people and I must admit some great people also, it is just that the stupid ones way out weighed the good ones by a ton. You see them every day but you just don't realize it. Take today for example, I could have written 50 traffic citations easily and I am not talking about headlights out, no tags or anything like that, I am talking about illegal lane changes and I mean crossing three lanes of traffic and then cutting in front of cars to turn into a parking lot to get a hamburger, driving 35 miles an hour over the speed limit inside the city limits, cutting through parking lots and pulling out in front of traffic to avoid a stop sign - and we wonder why people have accidents!!! Wake up people, get a grip and pay attention!! Two extra minutes are not going to make that much difference in your life. I actually had a car pass me today doing at least 70 in town just to get in front of me to turn left, as this person was sitting there waiting to turn, I drove by at the speed limit and this person was still sitting there as I went over the hill. Slow down!!! You are not going to get there any faster, this I can attest to, time and time again I have witnessed people just busting ass down the highway just to come up behind them at a stop light. Think while you are driving, the life you may save could be mine!
I remember one day being on patrol on the west side of Lee County and responding to a domestic call. On this particular day I had a partner who happened to be in the passenger seat of the car. The call was at an apartment complex, all apartments in a row, no second floor. As we pulled up to the particular apartment there was a gentleman sitting outside of the apartment next door. As we pulled up and stopped we noticed that he was playing with fireworks. Now out in the county this was not illegal so we really didn't pay that much attention to him. It was either summer time or winter because we had the windows up on the patrol car and it was good thing we did because no sooner had we stopped the patrol car than we were hit by a huge bottle rocket right in the passenger side window! If the window had been down it would have probably taken both of us out. Now I am not talking about the little bottle rockets you buy 150 in a pack, I am talking about one big enough to have a plastic tip to it. What the guy had done was stuck it in the ground instead of a bottle or something to let it fly and by sticking it in the ground it had built up a lot of tork by the time it had freed itself and it immediately took an immediate right, right into our patrol car. Now you talk about being stupid, this idiot couldn't wait to light it until we had gotten out of the car, no he had to do it as we pulled up and it was not like we were hidden, the parking lot was wide open. Man my partner let him have it, if we could have thought of a charge he would have been in the back seat of the car in two seconds!! I don't even remember what happened with the call, all I can remember is this idiot ambushing us with a bottle rocket!!
How many of you out there have ever been called to a house to remove a bat? Now if you are exterminator it is quite possible that you have but who in their right minds calls the Sheriff Office to remove a bat? Well people do, believe it or not. One night we got such a call, just happened to be the same partner as above, maybe I should have learned my lesson and stopped riding with him! Anyway we get this call about a bat in someones house and they wanted us to get it out. Now I don't know about you, but I would never call the police to get a bat out of my house - an exterminator MAYBE (NOT) but the police? Give me a break. Well we responded to the call and sure enough there was a bat in this person's bedroom. Funny thing was that the person that called was bigger than the both of us put together! A grown man calling the police to remove a bat - give me a break! So the two deputies armed themselves with a blanket and went into the bedroom where the "suspect" was supposed to be. Well after a few minutes of chasing the bat around the room we finally caught him and got him out of the house and you know how we did it? We opened a damn window and let him fly out! Give me a damn break!
Now I know that all of you have a thousand stories that are just as stupid but it doesn't get any better when you retire - believe me. Maybe it is just because I spent so long in law enforcement, that I can't say but people still amaze me and the sad thing is, I don't think they no. Now having said all this I don't want anyone out there to think that I am placing myself above anyone else, I do stupid things all the time but I don't call the police to fix it. We all make mistakes, that is part of life but think before you call the police or the sheriff's office to fix it, fix it yourself!
When I got out of law enforcement and started my own Internet company with some pretty amazing people I didn't realize I would still be dealing with stupid people. Now when you lay everything out in a video, step by step as to what you need to do to get started or to be successful you would think that people would WATCH THE VIDEO, but nooooooooo, they are too smart to do that and then they wonder why their account is messed up or they are not making any money. Give me a break! Life is full of missteps and hurdles but we are all suppose to be adults and we should have learned from life's experiences but it seems most people have missed that lesson. Now we all know that common sense plays a big part in life and people that don't have any common sense are at a disadvantage. We also know that common sense is NOT something you can teach - you are either born with it or not. Now I love all my children and you would think that the common sense gene would be passed along but NOT! I have tried my best to teach them, let them learn from my mistakes but somehow it is just not taking hold and I have done all I can - so you see I am not perfect by any means.
I hope that this little story has given you some insight into the human mind. Life would be so much better if we all would just think before we did something stupid - myself included. Just think how much better the world would be if we could all get along and stop acting stupid, this especially includes the so-called leaders of our country and states.
Jack (Tommy) Carter
www.livethegoodlife.ws
www.southernbellemarketinginc.com
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