People are quick to criticize the police, and rightly so, when they act in abusive and/or illegal ways, but it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that those are exceptions and not the rule. Most people who go into police work do so in order to serve and protect their communities, and do so quietly, unobtrusively, and bravely — and not just a few give their lives in doing so each year. Occasionally, we get a glimpse of that commitment through a random act of kindness, and CBS News reports one such incident from Plano, Texas:
When 25-year-old Hayden Carlo was pulled over for an expired registration sticker by a Plano police officer, he told him without hesitation – he had no excuse.
“I said there’s no explanation for why I haven’t done it, except I don’t have the money….it was either feed my kids or get my registration done.”
The cop gave Carlo a ticket…and something else.“I opened it up and there’s a 100 dollar bill. I broke down in my car what else could I do?,” Carlo told CBS DFW.
The officer never told anyone about the $100 gift. But Carlo’s grandfather, Billy McIntire, was so moved by the kind gesture he wrote a letter to the department.
“I get emotional when we talk about this type of thing,” McIntire says. “You just don’t find that many officers who would do this type of thing.”
We write about a lot of bad news. It’s good to offer something uplifting along with it, especially in this Advent season.
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