The Black Lives Matter movement and the police brutality epidemic. Innocent lives being taken from us too soon and too abruptly. It sounds like what you see on the news almost every day, no?

To say that police lives don't matter is a little extreme, to say black lives don't matter is well, a little extreme, to say that any race or group of people other than your own is a little extreme. Yes, innocent lives are taken by cops that are arrogant and think they are doing the right thing.

But what about those cops who aren't so bad?

Despite what some people might think, police lives do matter. My dad's life's matters, my uncle's life matters, my friends' parents' lives matter, and police lives do matter.

I wake up every day, as do many other people, not knowing whether or not I'm going to see my dad at the end of the night. Once in a great while, I'll hear slurs being shouted at my dad. I see friends on Facebook ranting about how they think only black lives matter and that all cops are killers. And worst of all, the videos released from news sites of rioters screaming that policemen and women deserve to die. What about the people who take police officers' lives, where are the riots for the fallen?

Police lives matter because of the times where people spit at them, hit them, curse at them, and yell at them, but the police continue to bring those people to safety. Police lives matter because they wake up every day to bring justice to communities that don't appreciate them. Police lives matter because they are human just like everybody else.

Not all policemen have the integrity they should, not all of them are good people looking out for others, and not all of them follow the law like they should, but not all civilians do too. There are flaws in the system and there are flaws in the community. Some people don't deserve to wear the badge but do anyway. But next time you think that their lives don't matter, think of the officer who only wants to help their community and get home safely to their family.

Who do you call when your house gets robbed? Who are you going to rely on when your friend gets jumped or when someone gets shot? You rely on the cops to save you, but you protest against their lives.