The Season of Rambo

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

Earlier this week I had a close encounter of the weird kind, a sobering and somewhat scary experience.

It happened in a large doctor’s office, the kind of place where we older folks tend to congregate.  I was sitting and waiting my turn to have my insurance milked by medical professionals when an elderly (much more so than myself) husband and wife hobbled in and sat down across from me.    The wife was old, but she looked sprightly compared to her spouse.  The old man was pulling eighty (or perhaps ninety) rather than pushing it.  It took him several minutes to hobble from the reception desk to his seat.  Not only was walking an obvious difficulty, but he was also encumbered with an oxygen tank and a couple of hoses. 

The old guy appeared to be quite unhappy and so was his elder honey – but heck, so was I.  I would have been more worried about someone who liked being in a doctor’s office, so a negative attitude could be overlooked.

What couldn’t be overlooked was the big-ass badge that was pinned to the man’s shirt pocket.  Yup, this was one of Sheriff Joe’s infamous “posse” members – and probably way too representative of the armed volunteers that our sheriff has dispatched to patrol around the schools in the unincorporated parts of Maricopa County.  This particular individual did not seem to be packing a gun, and his smoldering attitude was probably due in part to the sign on the door which said weapons and smoking were not permitted on the premises.    How dare those namby-pamby doctors interfere with his Constitutional “right” to roll around on the floor and fire indiscriminately at any Kenyan or liberal Democratic terrorists who might storm the facility!

I am not nearly as concerned about terrorists as I am shaky senior citizens who think they are Steven Segal or Sylvester Stallone.   Joe and his geriatric groupies need to stand down and leave law enforcement to young, healthy, and well-trained professionals who are capable of handling the job – people who will reduce risk rather than increase it.   

To everything there is a season – and when your age is equal to or greater than the age of Joe Arpaio, that season is fishing, golf, grandkids and a hundred other happy activities – not stroking your ego by playing Rambo.  The season of Rambo has passed.