Page 5 - 7-28-15 Tuesday's Edition

Editorials
Mind Your Own Business
Chief Ward Hits A Home Run
“T
being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.”
These words, taken from Robert Peel’s Nine Principles of British Policing and reintroduced to American law enforce- ment by Charles Reith seem right at home with Tampa Police Department whose newest Police Chief, Eric Ward is about the business of enforcing his own departmental-community rela- tions.
Says Chief Ward on behalf of TPD, “The mission of the Tampa Police Department is to reduce crime and enhance the quality of life through a cooperative partnership with all citi- zens.” To that effect, Chief Ward and Director Jerome Ryans of the Tampa Housing Authority have stepped up an enhanced initiative where police officers are not only pounding the beat of THA housing complexes on foot, but the police are joined step-for-step by THA security officers. We congratulate all con- cerned. But we need to make some additional comments.
We cheer TPD Maj. Rocky Ratliff when he says, “We need the citizens to help us police the community.” We say, any step for- ward is a step in the right direction. Give it time.
No doubt, Robert Peel and Charles Reith would be proud of TPD’s Eric Ward, Mary O’Connor, Rocky Ratliff, Richard O’- Connor, and Lee Bercaw, as well as THA Director Ryans and his team. Keep batting a thousand!
P resident Barack Obama’s recent visit to a federal prison, and his heartfelt, common sense support for reducing or elimi- nating severe mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent offenders, as well as for restoring voting rights to former felons who have served their sentences is a breath of fresh air for any American who has made a mistake in life, but looks forward to
a new beginning.
This is a story about a young man we shall call “Tony.” He
and 1.8 million non-violent offenders who have served their time in prison and are now released or are waiting to be re- leased can only be encouraged by the President’s compassion. But, not everybody feels the same way, especially not everybody in charge of employment.
So, Tony continues to try to piece his life together by moving from one temporary job to another while filling out endless ap- plications for permanent positions. This has been his story for the past 10 years, after serving a seven-year sentence for drug abuse and sales.
Often, he has managed to receive second and even third job interviews, only to have a human resource officer state that his background check renders him a so-called “habitual criminal” unfit for hiring. But, five years ago, a potential employer ad- vised Tony to apply again after he’d been clean for 10 years. Tony complied, receiving three successful interviews and a slew of positive references, only to get a “Dear John” phone call telling him he couldn’t be hired because of his background check. We wonder how many Tonys there are walking the streets of Tampa.
Therefore, we urge Tony and millions like him to write to President Obama and to Congress to support the President’s efforts to give ex-felons a well-deserved second chance. As for potential employers, what happened to the forgiveness you promised non-violent ex-offenders who paid their debt to so- ciety?
“Here is the prime con- dition of success: Concen- trate your energy, thought and capital exclusively upon the business which you are engaged. ...Re- solve to lead in it...adopt every improvement, have the best... and know the most about it.”
Andrew Carnegie
Empowered Greetings. In order to get where you are try- ing to go in life it is imperative that you mind your own busi- ness.
When you start redirecting your time worrying about what your so called competi- tors are doing, remember to mind your own business.
When you start trying to re- design your ministry to func- tion like somebody else’s, remember what God called you to do and mind your own business.
When you start trying to ac- complish and gain the posses-
With every senseless act of killing that occurs in a public setting I believe society moves closer to becoming completely desensitized to the carnage. I say this because, personally, I find myself already reaching that point.
I realized the other day that I rarely blink anymore when I hear about someone being murdered in cold blood. When the breaking news surfaced last Thursday involving a gunman who opened fire inside of movie theater, killing two women and injuring several others before taking his own life, initially, I didn’t bother paying attention to the broad- cast long enough to determine where the event took place.
It wasn’t until I watched the news again a few hours later did I discover that it happened in Louisiana and that a Neo- Nazi sympathizer was respon- sible. And, even then, I remember thinking to myself, “so what else is new?”
The shooting was so similar to the numerous other random acts of violence that I’ve heard about in recent years that, for me, it came off as mundane as the average convenience store robbery. The kind of incident you don’t think twice about once you walk away from the television.
The empathy and the “heavy
sions of others, remember to take a step back so that you can mind your own business.
In order for you to rise to be your best, you must mind your own business. In other words, stay focused on the essentials in your life. The center of your attraction should be on devel- oping strategies to build you personally, so that you can grow yourself, your business or your ministry.
Here are 7 reasons why you should Mind Your Own Busi- ness (M.Y.O.B.).
1. Mind your own business so that you can endeavor to concentrate on perfecting your craft.
2. Mind your own business so that you may devote your time and efforts to activating your business or ministry po- tential.
3. Mind your own business so that you can make critical decisions necessary to recover, strengthen and succeed in today’s diverse and challeng-
heart” that the news anchor, who reported the story, ex- pressed didn’t seem to register with me. Do not get me wrong, I fully understood the gravity of what transpired. But I guess, since it didn’t affect me di- rectly, my eyes weren’t exactly moved to moisture.
I don’t think anyone should be shocked by me saying this. After all, I’m probably not alone in my jadedness. Though I wouldn’t doubt that I’m one of the few people willing to admit to it out loud.
The thing is, I don’t believe that this lack of sensitivity can simply be explained away as the by-product of cold-heart- edness. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, I still have the ca- pacity to love. But, for some reason, death, even at its most viciousness, has become easier handle these days.
The only thing I can com- pare this sudden development of callousness to is how a per- son becomes accustomed to something like cold weather after living all of their lives in a tropical environment. Once they’ve lived through a few ice storms, dealing with freezing temperatures becomes second nature.
Maybe this numbness is something similar. It could be our brains way of preventing us from going completely insane
ing market.
4. Mind your own business
so that you can create prof- itable partnerships or collabo- rations that will help you navigate and find relevant re- sources or ideas to sustain your business or ministry.
5. Mind your own business so that you can dedicate time to praying to God, seeking God and hearing the voice of God for guidance and direction in your personal, business or ministry pursuits.
6. Mind your own business because what you spend your energy on is what you ener- gize.
7. Mind your own business because now, more than ever, is the time to energize and maximize the power of your own business.
Remember, don’t be too busy meddling in somebody else’s business to mind your own business.
Let’s get connected to gain more insight on developing strategies to grow your busi- ness.
Websites: successcccoach- towomen.com or Twitter: @queenofsuccess1 or Face- book: Selphenia Nichols to book Selphenia to speak or provide a workshop for your next event call 813-956-0185.
by shielding us from any emo- tional connection to the daily doses of pain being suffered by others.
But, while having this kind of defense mechanism in place may be good for maintaining mental control during unnerv- ing times, I can’t help but won- der what kind of long term effects it will cause down the road? As the gruesome deaths of the innocent continues to become a normal part of our everyday lives, will our desen- sitization to these events in- evitably lead us to view the loss of human life with the same in- significance that we feel for a fly or any bug, for that matter, whose splattered remains call for a quick, unceremonious clean up process?
No more flowers at gravesites. No more funerals. Just the steady presence of meat trucks hauling our corpses to predetermined holes in the ground.
Today it’s hard to imagine our civilization, as messed up as it is, ever devolving to such a level anytime soon. But, with our children watching and mimicking our nonchalant be- havior when it comes to the massive extinguishing of life that we continuously allow to happen, 50 years from, who’s to say that they won’t be even more immune and unfazed by the same kind of brutal sav- agery that stopped disturbing us so many years earlier?
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Pub- lishing Company.
Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@yahoo.com.
o maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police
Too Cold To Care
Few Second Chances For Ex-Felons
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5