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Open Letter To the FOP 3/13/2005 7:16:47 PM
You need what??
It’s Sunday, usually a safe day for those of us who stop to decide if there’s one more good use in a tissue before dropping it in the trash, or to fold the aluminum foil for another day as long as it hasn’t touched raw meat. Bill collectors seldom call on Sunday, utility companies don’t disconnect services on Sunday, and for the most part we poor people can sit at home and not be insulted or have our feelings hurt by anyone outside the family on Sunday.
So when the phone rang, I snatched it up without the usual Monday through Saturday knot in my stomach. The man on the other end tried to sound cheerful. He called me by my first name and asked how I was anyway. After a few pauses and some small talk, he appealed to me for a donation to the Fraternal Order of Police, advising me of the usual dollar pledges.
I listened politely, wishing I had my real life back, the days before my disability when I had a good job and could make a choice like this. I have no choice these days.
I spoke to the man as though he were a police officer, since that’s how he represented himself, and said he had my full support in spirit and activism but I wasn’t able to make a financial contribution.
A thank you for my time and support would have been the appropriate response. Instead, I got an insult. On a Sunday, yet.
The man told me the amounts he had quoted weren’t absolute, so he would just put me down for a ten-dollar donation. Does he think because I have no money I also have no brain or pride? Of course I knew he would accept any amount I chose to give, and had I had a dollar to spare and wanted to give it to him, I would have offered it. Instead, he tried to use what some marketing or fund-raising company – probably the one he works for – told him was a good way to bamboozle the ignorant, the poor, or the meek.
Time, spirit, and activism are pretty much all I have left. Oh, and my pride and sensitivities. I offered this man all of them and he abused me in return. It will be very hard for me to support his cause in the future, by any means available to me.
I would like to offer a most sincere contribution to the FOP at this time. If your concern is truly for the welfare of police officers and their families, I suggest the force become politically informed and active. I advise each of you to take a good look at the social insecurity sham being presented, because that could greatly affect the future of your family if anything were to happen to you. Also, look at the cuts to social programs this administration has made and proposes, at the federal housing money that has come into this state and been lost or misused, at the ignorance of the average citizen when it comes to the corporate take-over and loss of rights, thus the lines at Walmart for jobs and perceived deals that help all the wrong people and hurt many more. I would like to hope that if you and/or your families ever find yourselves in the same situation my family and I have, you might have some hope. As it stands now, I doubt you can raise enough money to protect your families.
I’d suggest the FOP do everything possible to get all Republicans and half of the current Democrats out of office and move sensible, caring progressives who care about communities and individuals outside their immediate families into office. If the FOP needs my help to accomplish these goals, I will gladly assist. If all you need from me is money for your own, please remove my name from your call list. You no longer have my support.
