We have a particular kid in our city (we'll call him Andy), who has been on our radar, so to speak, for as long as I can remember. He's not 18 yet, but this kid could probably drink me under the table. His mother is at her wit's end, and she thinks there's nothing she can do about it. We end up dealing with Andy when he decides to go ape shit and tear up the house.
Last time I dealt with Andy, he was fighting with another kid because the other kid didn't want to fight. You read that correctly, he was fighting because the other kid refused to fight. Andy blew a .245 on the PAS that evening. I'd be passed right out at .245%. That's the equivalent of about a twelve pack of beer in less than an hour.
Andy is a big kid too, and he's not afraid of the cops. He's usually very respectful toward me, because I talk to him rather than yelling at him. If I go hands on, he usually calms right down and says how sorry he is. I'm hoping he never decides to fight us because that will not be pretty.
Andy recently spent some time in Juvenile Hall. As with most of our local regulars, I didn't think much about Andy while he was inside. I have enough to worry about dealing with the knuckle heads who aren't in jail.
I saw Andy a few weeks ago, and he seemed sober. I was shocked. Many officers have given up on him. I haven't... yet. I hope Andy gets his act together and makes something of himself. I'd hate to see him turn out like his mother's boyfriend... a useless, crankster piece of shit.
Nobody's gonna do it for him. Mom sure as hell isn't. He's gonna have to do it himself.
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8 comments:
It is good for Andy that he has you and that someone out there still cares about what person he is going to become someday. Sometimes, that is all it ever takes. Just one person to care. Just one person to talk to them with respect instead of yelling and swearing. And that one person can make all the difference in the world in motivating them to change. Keep it up! :)
There's a great saying that I really like: "To the world, you might be one person. But to one person, you might be the world."
Apropos for this situation.
Hopefully the kid can pick himself up by his bootstraps and do the right thing.
One cop can make all the difference...
I hope that Andy will get his act together. Thank god for people like you Officer Smith. keep up the good work. I will say a prayer for you and Andy.Rick
You don't give up on people as quickly as I do. It generally takes me anywhere from 30 seconds to 20 minutes to completely lose faith in someone, and resign myself to believing that they are doomed to be a sack of shit until they are worm food. It takes a lot longer than that for them to convince me otherwise.
Hopefully, you'll turn out to be right about this one.
Berserk, that was funny.
You're a good man. I hope things work out for Andy. I also like the saying thebronze put up. I hadn't heard that one before but it is so very true.
Yeah, well, like I said, it's not up to me, it's up to him.
There's a lot of Andy's out there. Every once in a while one will surprise you and actually turn it all around. Some of them have tremendous potential.
As bad as I hate to admit it once in a while I run across a kid like this that you just can't give up on. There are kids whose house I have been at on a regular basis since they were in diapers because their mothers and the string of boyfriends that have been through the house are pieces of shit. You know the kid never had a chance.
The thing that usually puts them off the deep end is drugs. If they can stay off the dope long enough that they haven't ruined their shot at getting in the military or have enough brain left to get a high school diploma sometimes they'll pull up before it's too late.
Here's hoping Andy and all the ones like him look around at their world and have the strength to say this stops with me. Yeah, right.
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