Who’s Unessential?
GARRETT COLE
May 10, 2020
One time, somewhere in the Arabian Desert, I saw written in pen on the wooden wall of a guard shack: “We are all essential. We are essentially unimportant.” The self-deprecating little quip some Marine scrawled there has stuck with me for the better part of two decades now. I don’t know why it rang such a note with me, but it did. Maybe because not many people feel as marginalized as a junior enlisted Marine in a rifle company.
Today, I think of that quote as I work in a job that has been declared essential during the current pandemic. There aren’t many jobs that are more important to civilization than its police—particularly patrol cops. We stand on the edge of society. We do a job that no one wants, and no one wants to think about until that nastiness that’s always out there, lurking, creeps into their lives and into their houses. And we must do it regardless of circumstances that shut down a good chunk of the country. No one else can or will.
I go about my day as normally as possible. I still get up at 5:00 AM every morning and workout. I cool off and have a coffee while I do some writing, or just watch a YouTube video or two, or six. I then shower and head to work about 7:15, which is thirty minutes later than I used to leave. I think I’m one of the few people who have found a positive note about this whole fiasco because my weekday commute has cut itself in half. I get to the station and I ride with the same guy and we make the same juvenile jokes and have the same odd conversations. We answer the same never-ending calls from the same people about the same people in the same places.
After work, I go home and decontaminate at the order of a wife who doesn’t give me a choice in the matter, nor does she have much of a sense of humor about it. Then I spend time with my son. I walk the dogs. I read while I ignore whatever is on television. Sometimes, when reality TV is turned off, I might actually watch what’s on. Around 9 o’clock, I still get in bed and still read until I can’t remember the last sentence. Then I shut off the lamp and go to sleep.
I’m a creature of habit. Let me know when it’s the end of the world.
I was off for a planned (yet canceled) vacation when things went south on us. Upon returning to work, I expected that the already high load of domestic disturbances would skyrocket due to people cooped up with their loved ones and finding out that they maybe didn’t like them as much as they thought. I was shocked, It’s not so bad right now. People are still having their issues that they can’t be adults about, so they call us to be their parent, priest, counselor, psychiatrist, disciplinarian, dog catcher, etc… I’ll add the qualifier of “yet.” I’m sure it’s any day that this will change as this lockdown goes on and we won’t have enough jails to house all the people we bring in for family violence.
I wash my hands a lot during normal times while at work. I do so now like a doctor prepping for surgery. My pandemic casualty is the split knuckle on my chapped right hand. I have always carried a bottle of hand sanitizer in my cargo pocket, so that’s nothing new. I don’t wear a mask unless I absolutely have to. The ones the department handed out clearly say on the side, “This does not prevent the transmission of illness or disease,” so I don’t see the point of doing that. And it looks ridiculous. If anyone is going to catch the corona virus, or COVID-19, or whatever we’re calling it, it’s going to be a medical professional, a firefighter or paramedic, or a police officer, and I don’t think a flimsy piece of cloth is going to do much to stop it. If it hits me, it does, and I’ll be okay. My only worry is my family; I can’t bring it home to my wife and son. I’m not sure where I’ll live in my recovery if I’m so unlucky to contract it, but I’ll find out when I get there. I’ll get through it as I have every other thing that’s come my way.
In the meantime, keep yourself and your family healthy. If you’re home-bound, enjoy your time off with them. I’ll still be out there, trying my best to act essential.
GARRETT COLE is a police officer in a large Texas city. He holds a Bachelor's degree in English-Creative Writing from Texas Tech University. He is married to a wonderful lady, and has two kids and two Labradors.
