Originally Posted By: qwerty1234
Astro, I've been sober a few months now. The AA folks tell me you have to find some kind of passion in life. I grew up in Chicago my whole life. The police should be retrained on simple manners. The "stop and frisk" policy in Chicago is against Federal law. Everyday, urban youths struggle with the odds stacked against them. I like to hope I don't violate the standards of this forum. Sometime I think I should just go back to posting about High Milage oil....
Perhaps sticking to oil would create less conflict...but you and I wouldn't be having this conversation...so, back to the passion you brought up.
I applaud your efforts with AA. I am not anti-alcohol, for the record, but it controls some people and those folks need the help of organizations like AA. I am glad to see you getting help.
I think your new found passion is misplaced. Urban youths do struggle. No doubt. They need your help.
But you're not helping them. You're assaulting the profession against which you feel aggrieved. Anti-police is not pro-youth, unless you're a complete moron, which I know you're not.
You've misplaced your anger and directed it against an institution. Creating self-righteous rationalizations around that misplacement doesn't help you and it doesn't help those kids you profess to support. Hating cops, hating the institution, is simple stereotyping and I know that you wouldn't stand for that stereotyping against any other group of people, so don't be a hypocrite when it comes to the police.
In order to help both yourself and those kids, you need to wake up and admit the mistakes of your past. You need to find a constructive outlet for a new passion. Ride along with the cops, take a shooting/decision course of instruction to understand what they go through. Learn the law in Chicago from an accredited source.
Seek first to understand (Ghandi's words).
Take what you learn and then go volunteer with urban youth. Give them your time, your effort, and your new passion. Show them how to focus their energies as you have. Show them the path to success. Share with them your perspective, developed from your life experience (including mistakes).
You could add tremendous value to their lives. But please, whatever you do, don't teach them to hate a certain group. That would be devastating to their chances of success. It enables their continued failure by removing their personal sense of responsibility. It diminishes their ability to integrate into society. It holds them back by not demanding critical thinking and a positive approach.
It's your call, qwerty, but I think your passion could be directed in a very positive way...instead of the negative course you're now charting...
And please continue your efforts to remain sober. For your sake, and the sake of those who share the road, and the sake of those kids that you would be able to help through your positive example.