Page 22 - Arkansas 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 1

he reeenl eyenls surraunrlrng Lhc larlerl anrl lmglc
N|gL‘r attack WlI1'1(1'1CIOS~ of Arncncan .~0ldlL‘r~ and
I Lhc cnslllng barmgv: of new. covvzmgc [mm differ-
cm earnps mgrudlng the handllng of vlnually eyery
as-peel of the eyenrs hlghllglnlcd, fur me, an rssue wluch r.
Prgper
I lnrsl grapplcd wul. Lhls rs-sue when wcanng Llre dual lmls
e r S e c t I or mfcty officer and awn... manager for a largn
non rornpany. Fmm rny vmwpmnt, these are two of the mnsl
E’ ,0: W dlfflcull rules to fulfill ~Imultr1ncuu~ly Many years ago, l
W2I~ rhkcd to a~‘~l~‘t .1 contractor who had blscn lnvulved In .1
fatal arerrleru wrllrauz going um.» us speernes, the arerrleru
wr1~ of a natum Lhal lnvulvcd not unly salely protocol but
alsa several regulalary agenere. anrl thus‘ a gmal number of
‘ mdundant and snrnenme. conflltllng rules and mgulauum.
nel puurerl uyer the sue, our ~oln iueus wr1~ an tlm polcntlal
lmbrlrnes that thc contractor rnrglu have. Rncurd~ were
ordered to be pulled, photos were laken, paperwork yen-
Hcd and TC-C1\CCkL‘d, drug and alcohol pmloculi followed, all
wlth thc prunary loeus of pzolutnng the cuntracloz from ll-
ablllty, sans-ryrng Lhc anuclpatcd requesls from the m~urancc
earner and Iaylng Lhc foundation fax a defense slnauld lhere
ultlmalcly be a law~u|t.
As the final plrxci of lhh puzzle were fallmg Into plaee, une
of my peuple ealled rne la r1~k how llungs were gmng Im-
poned much as llmye noted already m nus p|ccL‘,l11atlh|ng~
were cumlng logctlmx there was a pause on the other enrl
of this (0nvL‘r~auDn. What followed Wr1~ his vmcn mmmdmg
me that them rs nodllng enrren ur cr1~y when "somuxlm goes
home In a box" as hc called II. I paused and reflected and IC-
alrzed 112 was nght. l was embarrassed. l apoluglzud to lum
and drseusserl (hr: eornmenl. wlth the penun l wr1~ woxklng
wnh And although llrese eyenls were rwer a derade ago, the
cnmmlsnl haw‘ anrvcd aa a reminder for me ~ll’ICC.
The natural thing h to fotui on the n~k and In» Control udc
[int and lorernosl. And u l~ a neeessary tr1~k. But ~u rnany
umL‘~, our sueress or frulurc rs gauged by how we prepare
fur the afllsrmatll of tlmac Cr1lr1rnll|Ea. And wlulc tlua h our
rnle, the constant renunder Lhal sorneone l~ nut golng home
3 E luthl:|rfr1mllyandluvcd uncs, or that someone lm~ been
myumd, pcx1\r1p~ aifcctlng then ablllty la prsrfunn work or
3 even darly hie funcm.»n~ lmye been rmparrerl should be part
of our fuCu~ in well.
m g lwrslr lhal not only for myself, but [ox ollrers, l rould adyrse
lhc pmpcrbalancc be-lween the dlmllty of the rwu rules.
What I dc know Is that any urnc I am Involved In 01 wnnnas
an accldcnt, l pan»: and lhmk of thc peuple hurl ln the ac»
errlenl. It lernpers any fccllng of aeeurnplrslrmeru man dmng
my ,olo as nsk and lass earuruller. Perhaps that h tlm way ll
should ble‘.
And to lhe remrnrler [mm the bugmnlng of lhls essay, my
memory was locus-erl on four sulrlrers that were not golng
lurme tolhc|xfr1mlllcs,ln~tnad cf the pulmral upheaval that
surrounded u for days. Anything else h seeundary
M, ml, vrmlllu : ,,ar,w... 0/ Hm Ccvvggz , an on ,
lyln :llalAm_q Hmrjllv mun‘ mm. as mm mg eafcly , 3, mam,.y .
20 . Ari<.:ns:s51)M.!g.:1lrle 201s Vssuel