Police officer undesirable, hypocritical job

The Soapbox

As I was watching "Garden State" for the 12th time and looking around my room to find my reckless driving ticket, my mind began to wander. There is a burning question that I want answered. It’s not a very philosophical question — I have seen "Garden State" so many times I’ve already let go and jumped in. My big question is this: How can any normal person grow up to be a cop?

For anyone who hasn’t seen "Garden State" — and no, I’m not getting paid for this plug — you have to go see it. It will change your life, I swear. The main character, Andrew Largeman, is pulled over for going 85 mph in a 25 mph by his old friend from high school, Kenny. "Large" asks him why he’s a cop and Kenny says he’s a cop because he has nothing better to do.

There has got to be something better to do than be a cop.

We all have friends or know of someone who has been arrested for something or another — possession of marijuana, a fake ID or underage drinking. I just cannot imagine how someone could devote his or her life to making someone else’s life miserable. How can people punish someone for an act that they themselves more than likely committed when they were younger? It makes no sense. Also, if I were a cop, I don’t think I could handle everyone always going so slow around me. I would be so annoyed — especially knowing the fact that they are only going slow because I’m a cop.

The whole justice system is generally unnecessary. It is necessary for some things, such as retribution for murders and the like, but for petty things like speeding tickets, I think they could lighten up a bit. I think drinking would be minimal, especially at college, if it were easier for us to do. Kids, we like the chase and we like breaking rules. It spices up our lives. It is not like the Alcohol Substance Abuse Program is going to make someone stop drinking — it just will teach them to do things more discretely. The drinking age should be 18 — the three years our brain needs to mature are just inhibited by us drinking alcohol illegally.

Trying to understand why someone would want to be a cop got me thinking about the bigger picture. Life is pretty much about breaking rules and how much we can get away with. Rules are meant to be broken. If there weren’t any rules, we wouldn’t feel the need to break them. If we were allowed to burn incense in our dorms, we wouldn’t find it so rewarding and empowering to burn it. If there were no speed limits, I wouldn’t be as apt to speed. If we didn’t have D.A.R.E. in fifth grade, I don’t think I would know about half the drugs I do now. I think D.A.R.E. creates drug addicts.

I am not saying that America should be an anarchy and completely devoid of rules, but I think that some of our limitations are ridiculous. For example, the law that you can get both internal possession and drunk in public seems like semi-double jeopardy to me.

I’m really excited about going back to my hometown in 10 years and seeing who of my high school friends have gone to the dark side. It’ll be cool knowing that I have some dirt on them.

Katie Austen is a sophomore SMAD major who recently discovered her love for Jay-Z and continues her hatred of President Bush.