Never confront, threaten or struggle with lawmen, especially while armed

As a teenager I one time rolled through a stop sign on Central Street in downtown Hingham, Mass., and was quickly pulled over by a part-time, off-duty cop from another town who put out a single red light on top of his personal, unmarked sedan.
As he strode up to my 1965 Mustang I rolled down my window, and he proceeded to berate me for a full minute and threatened to take me down to the Hingham Police Station to be arrested.
I apologized, and said I wouldn't do it again, and he immediately went back to his vehicle and drove off.
As to be expected I was shaken and pretty upset and later by calling Hingham Police I learned of his part-time, quasi-official status.
Later that evening I vented on my parents, saying I felt like I'd been unduly pulled over and harassed.
Both my parents were very quick to tell me in no uncertain terms to never, ever argue with a police officer. I took it to heart.
Today would be a good time for every parent to tell their children the very same thing.
And it's crazy to have to add this, but in these crazy times, I would also tell them to not only not argue with law enforcement, but not to confront them angrily while wearing a firearm.
That rarely ends well, as when it played out on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Hopefully, if parents relay that message today to their children, they won't have to learn that lesson the hard way.

***

I'm all for helping the mentally ill, but when they fall into such a downward spiral that they are a danger to the public and themselves, it's just wrong to let them linger out on the streets.
Several years ago in Rochester there was an individual who routinely was in the cop logs. One time they disrobed from the waist down in front of the Rochester Children's Home and a few days later kept running in an out of traffic on Columbus Avenue multiple times before Rochester Police finally took them into custody to keep the person safe.
But that's nothing compared to what has happened in Charlotte, N.C., where a man with mental issues stabbed a train rider in the neck, killing her.
In New York there have been recent instances when people have been killed by being shoved onto tracks in front of subway trains or set on fire and killed while sleeping on the subway.
I remember when I worked in Boston near Copley Square and took the subway to work daily. I used to always stand just behind the yellow caution line, so I could watch the train as it sped into the station.
I suggest parents talk to their children about this scenario too, to protect them from being harmed during urban travel.

***

This week President Trump broached the idea of bringing back insane asylums, which were vilified following the release of the 1975 movie "The Cuckoo's Nest" starring Jack Nicholson.
I believe it is cruel to allow people suffering from severe mental illness to be ignored and left to fend for themselves out on the street.
And it's cruel for the people who are often harmed by them when these individuals become truly psychotic and perform heinous violence.
No, I don't want people in insane asylums to be treated cruelly by people like "Nurse Ratched" in "Cuckoo's Nest," or subjected to endless punitive shock therapy, but a more caring, compassionate approach can be found, I believe.
And we'd all be better for it.