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About 15 years ago, the Raleigh News & Observer reported the purchase of a number of Dodge Chargers for the N.C. State Highway Patrol.
A senior Patrol official defended the purchase, saying that the hot new cars were necessary to help recruit young men to the Patrol.
Ignoring his gender-bias, I commented to my wife, "God forbid that we should give people badges and guns just because they want to drive a hot new car. If a Dodge Charger motivates someone to go into Law Enforcement, they're not mature enough to be given a badge and a gun!"
More recent headlines point to the problems encountered when people of questionable maturity are granted law enforcement authority -- think Michael Brown, George Floyd, Jayland Walker and Tyre Nichols, among others. While some point to racism as the culprit, the five officers who allegedly killed Tyre Nichols, a Black man, were themselves Black. Racism isn't the only force at work here!
The problem is what's inside - the character of the officer.
Jesus taught this principle in Matthew 15:18-20 when he said, "But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts--murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person..." Bad behavior reveals faulty character.
Donning a uniform doesn't produce character in a police officer, it exposes the character inside the officer.
Unfortunately, when officers demonstrate immaturity, poor character and faulty judgment, it can be difficult to remove them from their positions.
Writing in the Washington Post, Mark Burman and David Nakamura reported that "Policing leaders...struggle to get rid of officers who display poor behavior, something chiefs have attributed to powerful unions and independent arbitrators impeding efforts at discipline." Since it's difficult to fire bad cops, "some of the same officers keep popping up on the radar again and again," according to former Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus.
That's why leaders must carefully place the right people into positions of authority in the first place, whether that's in Law Enforcement, Education, Government, Journalism or the Church. When authority is granted to those who lack character, judgment and maturity, we're all worse off.
Long before a budding teacher goes off to college or society hands a police officer a gun or installs a minister into a pulpit, the character of those people is being formed by the experiences of childhood.
Proverbs 22:6 (NIV) counsels, "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."
Teachers don't learn patience the first time they enter a classroom. Police officers don't gain humility and integrity because they graduated from Basic Law Enforcement Training. Ministers don't automatically develop a servant's heart by completing a seminary degree. The inner character is shaped long before, as the 1-year-old learns the meaning of "No," and the 3-year-old learns to control her temper. Character develops as the third grader struggles with homework and the teenager learns to handle money or resolve conflict and the college student learns to think independently.
After researching children's behavior for nearly 30 years, San Diego State University Professor Jean Twenge coined the term "iGen" to describe today's older teens and young adults. The author of the book "iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy -- and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood–and What That Means for the Rest of Us," Twenge points to digital overparenting as a significant contributor to the immaturity of today's young adults.
Well-meaning parents maintain constant digital contact with their children, texting and talking throughout the day.
As a result, parents and teens report closer relationships and less generational conflict, but the kids fail to develop the skills needed for independence -- the inability to handle failure, manage conflict or plan for a desirable future. Children can't develop those skills because their constantly-connected parents supervise every decision and micromanage every experience, so the kids aren't prepared for adult living, adult choices and adult consequences.
Parents, loving your kids is so important, but be careful to love them in the right ways.
Help them learn to think for themselves, control their emotions and plan for the future.
One of these days, they'll be the teachers, ministers, government officials and police officers, and we need them to be mature, responsible adults.
Be careful, one of them might even manage your nursing home!
Mark Wilmoth
Pinehurst Christian Church
Marietta