From traffic wardens issuing statutory parking tickets to social workers and police removing children from their families, to Air Force pilots dropping smart bombs on an 'enemy insurgent'. Each of these examples and countless more can be linked by an all too common phrase that is becoming more and more a part of our everyday vernacular. That phrase being..
'I'm just doing my job'.
To me, these five short, otherwise unremarkable words, may just be the most dangerous words that can be uttered by one human being to another. True, in many cases these words, when heard, can simply be a cause for frustration and can be quite insignificant in our daily lives
For example, if you are still quite young and want to go on a ride at the fairground but the man (or woman) in charge of the ride says that you don't meet the height requirement, you may be quite annoyed when, after explaining that you are only ever so slightly too short to meet the requirements and take full personal responsibility if anything happens, they turn around to you and says they're 'just doing their job'. This is a minor inconvenience and could be forgotten about in no time at all, I would imagine.
If, however, you are standing on the street corner with your children, talking to your friends about life and how nice the weather is and how everything is wonderful, making plans for the future and then all of a sudden from out of the sky comes a big fucking bomb, intended for one of those aforementioned enemy insurgents, you may be a little underwhelmed with the excuse from the pilot who dropped the bomb when he tells you that two of your children are now dead and the other two have no arms because he or she was just 'doing their job'.
It's in circumstances such as this and many more, that these words become dangerous in the extreme.
The trouble is, that many of us are happy to hide behind these words and defer our moral decision making and personal responsibility to someone else, or more frequently nowadays, to some other entity. The most obvious example of this in my opinion, because they are such a visible part of our society, are the police.
I believe that there are many good men and women in the police 'force'. However, these good men and women are being forced to do the best they can with one hand tied behind their back due to not only having to uphold the law of the land but also having to enforce statute law, which ultimately takes up most of their time.
I would like to point out that there is no condemnation of the intentions of these men and women or their courage and bravery in doing the jobs they do, which at times does call upon them to demonstrate these qualities but it is a criticism of the consequences of many of the actions they carry out in the day to day aspects of their jobs, which for some of them may go un-noticed but for others, I'm sure, probably causes some moral discomfort.
There are many areas in which members of the police, in carrying out the 'duties' are required to do things which have a devastating effect on those the lives of others. For example, when Social Services 'identify' a child ;at risk', the police are usually involved to provide what is essentially physical assistance or 'back up' to the Social Worker charged with removing the child from its family.
Those who provide this back up have no idea who these families are, what the real situation is or whether there is any truth to the claims being made against them and yet they freely participate in the abduction of a child from its home and family, often forcibly, without any form of critical thought or moral discomfort. Whether the child is at risk of or is being abused is of course important but this is not always the case when these accusations are made or the decisions taken to remove children.
Or what about when a member of the police force stopping someone travelling on the motorway for going five miles an hour over the speed limit, issuing them, a fine and three penalty points which results in the loss of his license, which results in the loss of his job because he drives for a living, which results in the loss of his home because he can't find another job to pay his mortgage, which leads to losing his wife because the stress of all that's gone before has taken it;s toll on another relationship? And all because he was excited to get home to the wife he loved so much and accidentally went a little faster than he was 'allowed'.
Or what about the police who are again asked to provide assistance when Bailiffs are removing the family from the above example from their home because they couldn't keep up the mortgage payment to the bank, who will now take possession of their home as a consequence? 'Public servants' helping private banks to remove property from the public they are supposedly 'serving'.
The effect of the decisions we all make can be far reaching and should be considered as much as possible but for those who are being paid to do a job which has a greater than average impact on or even destroy the lives of others should be held accountable and as such, far more considered in their actions. You may say that you are just doing your job but if your job involves doing things that you wouldn't consider doing in your own life, such as removing children from their families, then maybe you should consider whether the job you do is really one that is benefiting society. If it isn't, or parts of it aren't, then maybe you should consider something else, especially if you don't realise or 'stand under' the true nature of or reason for the job you do
I would ask anyone who finds themselves using these words to consider the consequences by imagining that instead of dealing with someone you don't know, you are actually dealing with a close member of your own family.
For example, if you are a policeman or police woman and you have stopped someone in their car for going 75 on a motorway where the limit is 70 and they tell you that if they get 3 more points they will lose their license and if they lose their license they will lose their job, instead of over-riding your natural, human, sense of decency and compassion, consider that this is your son.
If you give your son a ticket, he loses his job. If he loses his job, he loses his house. If he loses his house, his wife may leave him and take the children. If his wife leaves him and takes the children, he may start drinking again and so on and so on. Would you still give that ticket to your son?
Would you ever even contemplate giving your own son or your own family members a speeding ticket? If not, then why is it morally acceptable for you to give a ticket to anyone else? If you are a policeman and you find out your son has been selling bags of weed to his friends would you arrest him and take him to jail?
It's something you do every other day to other peoples sons and daughters, so why not your own?
This thinking doesn't only apply to the police but to all whose jobs have the potential to affect the lives of others. What does it mean to say you are just doing your job? Does that mean you get to go home after work to your family at night without any guilt for the actions or mistakes you've made that day in doing that job? No need to worry about the fifty men, women and children you killed today when the bomb you were supposed to drop on the terrorists hit the wrong target because...you were just doing your job?
Are there no consequence for your conscience?
In Case You Missed Them. :)
