I once told one of my captains that I’d like to take a baseball bat to the head of the snake at my prior job.  My captain said I shouldn’t talk like that and it wasn’t nice.  

Right.  

Because the N in NYPD stands for nice.

His attitude didn’t last long because he eventually realized how conniving and wicked this man was.  At the end, my captain also wanted to take a swing.

This one is about unlikely ways to solve problems.

The snake causes incalculable damage to the NYPD and NYC with his selfish ambition.  He made investigating terrorism more difficult – a huge problem for a city that is a target from 360 degrees.  And a host of other initiatives that will come back to bite the force and city if it hasn’t already done so.  Before he could do any more damage, God or the universe removed him.  Not by firing, resignation, or similar.  But by promotion.

At first glance, this looks just awful but when you think about that Pink Floyd line about not exchanging a walk on part in a war for a lead role in a cage, it will make sense.  The NYPD used this method a lot as well.  Because of the organization and civil service structure, it’s really difficult to impossible to fire or demote someone.  So they also promote.

I would observe that it’d be better to have a lower rank in a high impact assignment like narcotics or counterterrorism than a higher rank in something like maintenance.  I think this has practical and relatable consequences for most if not all of us.

While I think all of us should live up to all we can be, what we actually aim for matters.  My family liked awards and prestige.  I didn’t want to play that game so I purposely didn’t seek those out – if it came to me, it came.  And sometimes it did and others it didn’t.  I’ll write more about this later but the real game in all of this is still impact and influence.

That’s how the world changes or more so, realigns to what it should be.

As to the snake, I forswear vengeance.  He’s not worth the time or energy.  The baseball bat won’t be swung by me.

But it will be swung somehow.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.