COGITATING

Because you are precious in My sight and honored, and because I love you, I will give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life. Isaiah 43:4 (Amplified Bible)

Cogitate - Worldnet Definition - consider carefully and deeply; reflect upon; turn over in one's mind...

As I sit here in my office looking at my surroundings.  In front of me is a desk pad with a large calendar covered with post-it notes... a long list of frequently used phone numbers... my keyboard... a mouse pad illustrating the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (I am a train nut and that is my favorite railroad)... on the top of the desk are two computers, a calculator, a multi-function printer, several file holders, a multiple line telephone and very little clear space.  There is a home-built hutch on top of the desk with a clear opening so that I may view my TV-DVD-VCR across the room.  The hutch is filled with notebook binders that are each filled with assembled information pertinent to my duties and the instruction Lesson plans that I have compiled and taught... Plus several different translations of the Bible and other religion based books.

My immediate work area is three sided, within arm's length, and I am surrounded by things that are of value to me...  and books... stacked almost to the ceiling books.   Across the room to my right are my ego walls covered with certificates, awards and other items pertinent to my life and career.   Included there are my law enforcement diplomas and a photo of me by the ghost car occasionally assigned to me when I was a trooper,  two U.S. Flags in quarter-circle bunting,  two military knives awarded to me for service to the Peace Keepers of the military and law enforcement, a full scale model of my last service Glock 17 in a presentation case, my Scottish Family Coat of Arms and a reproduction Scottish Claymore (two handed broad sword for those not Scottish), a large scale model of a beautiful Harley flanked by a beautiful red-head in leathers (my deceased wife, Sue, was Red head and I gave up my first Harley for her) and surrounded by an eagle and other smaller scale Harleys (one of which is like my first one).  On the left wall just beyond my desk is a bookcase filled with railroad scale models of steam locomotives and video recordings of steam locomotives which I use for background noise when I want to work without any distractions.

By the entry way is a large work table usually filled to overflowing with paperwork, the gear bags and folding files that go with me to work and other information which needs filing.  Across the front side of the room where my TV-DVD-VCR is located is a work bench for my old toy train repair and restoration business plus shelves of herbs and vitamins for that business including much floor to table level storage of pertinent business supplies.  I am an experienced engineer at heart and I believe in high volume use of space.  I have packed a lot of work space and work material into this large room.  A photographer who was recently here called it very interesting to see what I had packed into my personal work space.  He was intrigued by it.  Some other people have just called it clutter.  I no longer have a wife to please and I work as efficiently as possible so I just leave the things I do not finish at the moment right where I can pick up and go on with them.

I am not a neat freak in relation to my personal work space and it is all right with me if others do not like it or they think it is cluttered or a mess... It just does not bother me.
My greatest concern is always to do my best and give my best to any project or person with whom my time is involved.  The very best possible results are always my goal.  That is what my Commander-In-Chief expects of me and all of those who serve for Him... Nothing mediocre... Just our best!

All of this is my support system to allow me to work as efficiently as possible and meet my own needs for comfortable, usable work space in the process.

How I look when viewed by others is also top priority.  I know how to wear a uniform.  I know how to speak.  I know how to work alone.  I know procedure. Your first impression of me may not be likable but you will not soon forget what you saw and heard.  Some say I am not very diplomatic... That I am too direct for most people.  I do not make chit-chat nor small talk.  I do not speak just to make noise.  I speak only when I have something to say.  I do the best I can with what I have where I am and leave the rest to God or whomever else is responsible.  All of this makes some folks uncomfortable... But it serves me extremely well as I work in crisis situations for the good of those with immediate needs.  To top it off I am not a small person and I do not appear to be 67 years old.

At this very moment I am watching a troop train whistling and crossing a grade crossing in the dark of night... Trains are a pleasant sound to me... I grew up hearing them all hours of the night and day since they were only thirty yards from my front door.  I was born loving trains and steam locomotives.  The basic constituents of my blood could very well be coal dust and cylinder oil.  Steam locomotives combine the two unmixable ingredients of fire and water to produce great power.  In me He has combined the two ingredients that the world finds incongruous... Mercy and Justice... a Clergyman and a Peace keeper.  I enjoy the amazing combination.

I am of all men most blessed!

All of this information may be something that makes no difference to your knowing... but it tells a great deal about me as the person who writes these weekly messages of care and concern for and about  Peace Keepers of all types and varieties.  All of what I have told you here and in times past makes me who and what I am....

And who and what I am is a unique individual who cares very, very deeply for and about you and any job that we do concerning Peace, Safety, Liberty and Justice.  On Thursday morning we were expecting a storm.  I was patrolling one of my busy places and it seemed that everywhere I looked I saw something that I needed to handle concerning law, peace and safety.  Every time I moved I found still more that needed attention.  I handled the last problem as the rain was falling.  I even carry zip-lock sandwich bags to protect the paperwork that I leave on the cars.  Just as I finished the last item, dispatch asked me to go pick up an abandoned bicycle in the rain... The rain slacked off until I could pick it up, load it and carry it to the precinct to secure it in the bike rack and get into cover to do all the paperwork. 

It is quite an adventure to do the street work that I do.  Often I am impressed to turn in a certain direction and then very quickly find a dangerous or threatening situation that needs immediate attention... debris in the roadway, traffic crash, disabled vehicles and even a too tall truck stuck under an overpass.  I am constantly intrigued that people can drive vehicles upon our roadways and not see anything (including me and a marked car with many blinking bright lights) until they are right on top of the obstacle.  They cannot all be blind but I am sure they can all be inattentive. 

There are some days that I would not want to be the dispatcher that takes care of all of my needs and the needs of all of the other officers in my precinct.  Sometimes the dispatcher will give me a very interesting assignment.  One day it was a tractor trailer that was stuck in a parking lot with no way to get back to the main street and continue on the way it needed to go.  The driver had made a wrong turn many miles before and was trying to turn around and go the opposite direction.  In trying  to turn around the driver became stuck in a very tight place in a parking lot.  When I arrived I studied the situation and then told the driver how to get back to the street with my assistance to re-enter the traffic.  The driver did not believe it could be done.  I talked them through the maneuver and got them on their way in very short order... That's my job... I am a Community Services Officer.

It is good to be able to do the things that support peace and safety whatever those duties may be... And wherever they must be done... Whether at home or in a foreign battlefield.

I have recently viewed some photos from Iraq and Afghanistan that showed the strain and affectation upon the Peace Keepers.  I also read articles that stated the shootings on September 16th were not justified in 14 of the 17 instances.  I identify with those in all of these situations.  I know crisis in life from the experience stand point.  I see too much crisis in all of the efforts I put into life outside this office.  I do not just see the pain... I feel the pain... I identify with the person in the crisis...  I know how it is to feel like the world around you has collapsed in upon you.  I have experienced the worst in relation to affairs of the heart.  I have experienced the worst in relation to children and loved ones.  I have been there too often for myself as well as for others.  I remember all of this as I pray for all of you and each of you daily.  I, too, have been accused and had to prove myself innocent when others adjudged me guilty.

Peace Keepers, we are Compadres... People of the same heart.  Many people say that I have seen too much of life's events in these forty five years since I started in peace keeping.  Maybe so from the viewpoint of others but each experience has prepared me to help someone else who is now where I have been before.  To only know about something is hearsay... To know it for yourself and others you must experience it yourself.  You must have your own experiential knowledge... I have had much of that.

As I think upon you in this moment I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all that you have done and continue to do.  I identify with your pain and frustration.  For all of the good results that you have obtained there have been many hours of fatigue, pain, aloneness and frustration... and you have each paid a price... It has been exacted from you like sucking the juice out of an orange.  My Commander-In-Chief and I love you and appreciate you for it.  There would be no world as we know it today if you had not been where you have been and if you had not been doing what you have done... There are others who were there with you and are not here with us today because life and duty have sucked away all that they had to give and they are with us no more.  WHAT A PRICE YOU ALL HAVE PAID!!!

THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!!  THANK YOU!!!

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  Always be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary... Always!  Take the very best of care of you as you care for and about others.  See to the best of care of your spiritual being.  You must be spiritually strong to succeed!

Call or write if I may be of any assistance.  It has been a most pleasant surprise to receive calls from some of you and letters from others.  I am here with you because my  Eternal Captain paid a horrible price to reach me and place me here.  I am part of His provision for you even if I never see you in this life.  He did it for you and I, even if we did not see the need nor ask for anything from Him.  That is called Grace... It is undeserved, unearnable favor and care.

As it has always been... So it still is...

"VICTORIOUS WARRIORS WIN FIRST...
AND THEN GO TO WAR,
WHILE DEFEATED WARRIORS GO TO WAR FIRST...
AND THEN SEEK TO WIN."  Sun tzu

ONLY LIVE PEACE KEEPERS SEE THE VICTORY!!!
THEY SEE IT ONLY BECAUSE OTHERS HAVE MADE THEIR ETERNAL
PAYMENTS OF SWEAT, BLOOD, TEARS AND LIFE FOR THAT VICTORY!

WITH THE DEEPEST OF APPRECIATION AND RESPECT...
BE BLESSED (A CONDITION TO BE ENVIED)...
BE SUCCESSFUL... BE SAFE...
[My injunction to be safe means doing all you know to do as you do your job... it means
doing the best you can with what you have where you are using all your faculties to get
the job done well and with good results conquering evil and keeping or restoring peace...
it does not mean to avoid duty and honor... it does not mean to cower or allow anything
to hinder you in the process of duty according to rules, law and ethics...  it means that if
the demand takes your earthly life you destroy as much evil as possible in the process. 
That is my definition of being safe... doing the best you can and leaving the rest to God
or whomever else is responsible... being best employed for the sake and protection of all
the things and people that we hold dear.]

I represent, write for... and give the credit to:
God the Father (my Commander-in-Chief),
Jesus Christ the Son (the Eternal Captain of my life) and
the Holy Spirit of God (my Eternal Teacher, Keeper and Guide).
In Christ I live... with Him and for you I serve...
And I rejoice that you are there whether you are Christian or not...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers, 
VIRGINIA STATE POLICE ALUMNI,
RETIRED VB Police Officer, Certified Police Instructor,
Community Services Officer
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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