I am the daughter of a police officer.
I have lived almost 20 years of my life behind the badge.
I grew up listening to stories my father would tell me about the things he would have to do in order to keep people safe.
Now, I'm hearing stories from him and from social media about how police officers everywhere are under fire.
The context of this is quite simple. The world is at war with itself, and lines have been drawn between law enforcement and citizens.
There are bad officers out there who are giving caring, hardworking individuals a terrible reputation they don't deserve.
But let's take a step back for a second and take the uniform out of the equation.
Without their uniform, police officers are simply just plain human beings.
No fancy bells and whistles -- they are just normal people like you and I.
They are fathers, husbands, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, friends, and maybe even pet owners.
They wake up every day, say goodbye to their families, and go to work.
They commute to their jobs, they flip through the daily news, and maybe they stop at the neighborhood bagel place on the corner for coffee each morning.
They take their kids to soccer games on the weekends, they go to family barbecues, and maybe they go to church every Sunday too.
However, when that uniform is put back on, society immediately paints a target on the back of an innocent person.
Those people who were wrongly killed were also innocent people, but trying to even the score by killing men and women in blue will not create peace.
Believe me, there are police officers out there who have failed to do their jobs. There are officers out there who have not followed their vow to protect and serve equally.
But, there are accountants out there who have failed to do their jobs as well. There are doctors, writers, bakers, politicians, train conductors, circus performers, and even zoo keepers that have failed at doing the jobs they dedicated their lives to doing.
The difference is, you won't see a gun pointed at baker who may have kept your bread in the oven for a couple minutes too long.
Today's society is very sensitive and tense. As soon as blame can be pointed in a certain direction, we can be certain that a war will be brewing.
What I'm trying to say is that blue lives really matter because under that uniform, those men and women are people just like you and I.
Just like Alton Sterling and all the people who were unfortunate victims to police brutality in the worst way.
My father is just a man, and he makes mistakes just like every person who lives and breathes.
If the world keeps rotating under this "eye for an eye" mentality, humanity will surely destroy itself.
No one is perfect, but killing the people who get up every day and protect people they don't even know will not make all lives matter.
To be blunt, I don't want to wake up one day and find out my father or anyone else's family members in blue have been attacked because of actions done by other irresponsible and scared officers.
Let justice do its job and hopefully those lives lost will be avenged correctly and fairly.
I want my father to be alive and in my life for as long as he can be. He deserves to be the father and man that he wants to be, and no one has the right to take that from him.
I want him to be here for my college graduation, and I want him to see my brother grow up to hopefully be a father too one day.
In general, no person has the right to end the life of another person at all.
So, let's forget about the uniform, and let's remember that people are people.
Blue lives matter because my father's life matters, and so do the lives of every officer that puts on the uniform every day that has suddenly become a target for violence and disrespect.
Let my father be a father, and let all police officers be who they are without fearing for their lives every single day.
