To every man and woman who has ever put on a uniform to serve and protect,
Thank you.

Thank you for being the people who want to help. Thank you for being the people who care more for your city than yourself. Thank you for trying to be the voice of reason when a 16-year-old wants to leave home and her mother is crying hysterically on the front porch. Thank you for being selfless in every situation. Thank you for being calm in a state of complete despair. Thank you for making catastrophic experiences seem less scary. Thank you for letting civilians cry on your shoulder at the hospital. Thank you for devoting your life to make sure mine gets better. Thank you for abiding by the law and making sure others do too. Thank you for dealing with drunk people who are a hazard to themselves and those around them. Thank you for letting me live in a place where I shouldn't have to fear for my life. Thank you for being so involved in your work and not sleeping until the case is closed. Thank you for making sure very few cases go cold. Thank you for walking me across the street because I was alone. Thank you for never discriminating against my personal choices. Thank you for being a model citizen and role model to so many young kids. Thank you for being a knight in shining armor when the rest of the world turned their backs. Thank you does not justify my appreciation for you and all that you do. Thank you to every single person who has ever worn a uniform and defended it to your highest honor. To those of you who have abused your power, I have no idea how you can call yourself a man of the law, you will never be above the law.

I'm sorry for all the negativity you receive. I'm sorry your life has been flipped upside down for wearing that uniform. I'm sorry you live in constant fear of your life. I'm sorry the few have ruined it for you all. I'm sorry you face all these criticisms. I'm sorry for the hate this country has involved you in. I'm sorry you are afraid to draw your weapon when your life is in danger. I'm sorry the media makes you look like demeaning human beings. I'm sorry the population of this country is making this a race issue. I'm sorry you feel like you're living in a glass box. And I'm mostly sorry nobody seems to care that you have a family of your own, you come home to the love of your life every night and I am so so sorry that they're scared you won't come home at night.

I have no idea how difficult your job is, no one does unless they've been in your shoes. Over the past year the acts of police brutality have been striking and it saddens me to know that I live in a place where people care more about the color of skin rather than the character of the person. It saddens me to know that I have friends who want to become police officers and they're fearing for their lives before they even complete the academy. There is no higher honor than putting on a uniform to protect your family, your city, your county, your state or even the country. When you took that oath to serve and protect there was no subheading mentioning the color of one's skin. You risk your life everyday to protect the lives of everyone else and there are not enough words to express my gratitude to all of you.

Growing up whenever something even minuscule happened I threatened to call the police because they were supposed to get the bad guys. I got so excited whenever I saw a cop car cruising down the street with sirens wailing and lights flashing. As I got older I soon realized that sometimes those officers would not come out alive and it was so sad knowing some kid out there was losing a parent.

I've watched my fair share of cop shows, I've seen things through the lens of a camera but I have no idea what it is like to lose a family member due to police brutality or even in the line of duty. You reading this, you think you had a hard day? Imagine prying a child away from the home of their drugged-out mother, imagine walking into a woman's house for the third time this month where domestic abuse calls have been made except this time she didn't make it out with cuts and bruises she's carried out in a body bag. Imagine blaming yourself for things you can't control. The things these men and women see will trump your day so please stop making it a competition.

A video went viral on Facebook from the perspective of a white, hispanic, female police officer, Lydia. Watching it should shed some light on the topic and shows that police officers have families, they have a life worth protecting. They should not be running into danger to save us and then turn around fearing for their lives when they're out to dinner with their family, that's not right. As Lydia mentioned, there are "bad apples" but all should not be blamed for the misfortune and misuse of power that some promote. Somewhere along the way they lost their way and by antagonizing and using deadly force to bring justice to one's death is not the way to do that. Former Marine Michael Whaley has gone viral with his condeming of the Black Lives Matter movement and is encouraging, All Lives Matter.

I've seen multiple acts of police violence where they misuse their power, one in my home state of Michigan that didn't even make the news because the office and the victim were both Caucasian. It is not a race issue, it's about the misuse of power. I simply cannot fathom how someone thinks it's okay to start riots in rebuttal to the deaths of their friends and families. On 9/11 do you think the first responders asked the race or gender of people who were trapped? No. They ran into burning buildings knowing they wouldn't come out because they took an oath to serve and protect the people of New York City. They died heroes but people often forget the positive things these men and women have accomplished so selflessly because it's always the negatives that appear in the news. The media spews things in any direction it can just to spike their ratings not caring how those newscasts could indirectly be the cause of the next officer's ambush.

There are men and women risking their lives every single day to make this country a better place to live and somewhere there are officers losing their lives in the line of duty, while somewhere else an officer is asserting their dominance over innocent bystanders. This is what Lydia was talking about when she mentioned bad apples. It's officers like this that give everyone a bad name.

So to all you officers, current, retied, and fallen: you took an oath to protect my life above your own and no words could even begin to express my gratitude for that so thank you will have to suffice. Your lives matter. Everyone's life mattes.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

Sincerely,
Me. A citizen who will never be able to thank you enough.