IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE, don’t gamble!… My dad when he taught me that lesson one day by winning all the money I had. Then I could not go where I wanted to go nor do what I wanted to do, NO MONEY! (He eventually gave it back after he gave the lesson time to really sink in.)
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GET HURT, don’t get into a fight… But if you do get into a fight and come home beaten I will whip you again… My dad in relation to a neighborhood bully. My dad had been one of ten children with four brothers and five sisters. Growing up was tough for him. Then he was in the Infantry in the end of WW2 and had been an MP in the Japan/Korean Occupation Forces. He was trying to toughen me in relation to the challenges of life.
IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH, don’t go into battle.
IF YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO TAKE A HUMAN LIFE, you are in the wring job!…
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FAIR FIGHT, If you get into a fight, use everything at your disposal to win!… Lessons taught to me by instructors in Virginia State Police Basic School.
I was awakened to reality early in my life by my dad… Again as a country boy attending a city school and learning to survive and win at football… Plus learning to survive and win at playing hockey as Guard, Wing and Center… And again as a Probationary Trooper in training. These lessons and a lot of others gathered in personal life, engineering, ministry and peace keeping have never left me. They are still as vivid today as when I first learned them. I did not have to be mean but I did have to be aggressive and convincing!
I have applied these lessons in life; given them as examples in sessions with Peace Keepers in need; used them to encourage depressed persons who wanted to give up on life; used them in loving a wife; raising a family of our children and foster children; facing devastating problems; facing daunting challenges; and in those times some one or more people told me that something I wanted to do or believed I must do could not be done. I lived a long life, successful careers and unfailing health to the age of almost 72 before I had a terrible health failure. Many of my friends, my wife, one son, one third of my high school classmates, numerous Peace Keepers I have known and many of my contemporaries are gone from this life and I am still here. I believe we all have a time to live and a duty and purpose or purposes to work at and achieve good results before we graduate from this life. If we learn and cooperate we will be here long enough to get it all done! Some of us take longer than others. Some of us have many more and different things to do than others. Some of us will not be comfortable with going, even when our time comes for we will believe that we still have more to do!
What can I tell you today that you do not already know or know about? Not much, but by way of reminder and repetition I will send this to you:
In your personal life: Eat your food with joy. Rest your body when it is tired and learn what makes and keeps it healthy. Take the very best care of you that is possible! Love those immediately around you with care and concern plus, add help when they want it or need it… Treat them tenderly when they will allow it… Be firm and as pleasant as they will allow you to be in personal relationships… Leave trouble causers alone when possible! Always remember the Creator that put you here and ask for His plan, guidance, direction, provision and Grace… Plus His revelation as it applies to you.
In your professional life: The same applies plus… Know your job and all the details and expectations of it as well as possible… Do the job, treating those with whom you deal as pleasantly as they will allow but with firmness and clear communications… Take whatever actions you must take, at whatever level of force their actions dictate as necessary, being as polite and as gentle as they will allow… Always remember that you have the legal right and expectation to use that level of force necessary to keep or restore the peace, but you cannot legally exceed just that level of force necessary to bring the perpetrator into compliance.
I have not said anything you have not heard or read some other time. My job in this world is to watch out for and care for and about you as I have opportunity… Therefore, today I am using repetition to hopefully touch the deepest places of need in your life and bring an improvement to you, for you and those you love and who love you!
If I were to say THANK YOU, to you unceasingly for the rest of my days, it would never be enough expression of the thanks and appreciation that all of us owe to each Peace Keeper who works to keep peace and order in life around each of us, every moment of every day!!! Glory to God and to You!!! We have peace because of Him and because you became a Peace Keeper in cooperation with His plan of life and peace for all of us. My Commander-In-Chief (God) and I love each Peace Keeper dearly… Go home safely at the end of your tour of duty! Plus…
“BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!” ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary. Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others. See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of yourself. Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful. All of this is by your own choice… He has made provision for you but it is up to you to learn it, take it and put it to use for the best results possible.
Call or write if I may be of any service… Or if you just want to encourage me… Feedback encourages all who write… It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.
Donna is scheduled for surgery Monday morning to remove the lymph gland that is so swollen and sore. She is still somewhat ill but much improved!
Donnie is still working.
I saw my eye surgeon Thursday and my eye pressures are too high again. That requires new meds or again adjusting old meds. He wanted me to use an old med that I am allergic to. I have chosen to adjust heart meds that control pressure that also helps to control the eye pressures by increasing one that had been reduced. This is just one more challenge that will be overcome. Challenge and adjustment are often the names of the larger game called Life!
Thanks for the responses, care, concern and prayers… It all works… Keep them coming, please!
As it has always been… So it still is!!!
“VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST…
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST…
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN.” Sun tzu
Training and practice are everything!
Without them, the best results are not obtained!
ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!
WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT…
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)…
BE SUCCESSFUL… BE SAFE…
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace... it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics... it means that if the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all the things and people that we hold dear.]
I represent, write for… and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live… with Him and for you I serve…
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not…
For God, Country and the Peace Keeper…
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer,
RETIRED Police Instructor,
RETIRED Chaplain Administrator,
Chaplain Emeritus,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety),
Virginia Beach Police Dept.
Blackwater Alumni
757-486-3881, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452-3501
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All rights reserved. This Message:
Is for Peace Keepers and their loved ones and it may be forwarded with the complete message intact to individuals and web sites…
May not be duplicated in print nor publications without permission….
May not be used in any manner for personal financial gain nor profit
without permission.
Except for quoted material attributed to a specific source, all material in CHAPLAIN CORNER is my personal opinion gained from 49 years of working with people in peace keeping and is not to be construed to represent the policies and opinions of any department with whom I have served or am serving.
To subscribe to this free, weekly e-mail message for Peace Keepers,
write to Chaplain D. R. Staton at chpln1@verizon.net or at
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452-3501.
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