Wise men and women are always listening, always learning (paying close attention) for fresh insights. Proverbs 18:15

Blessed is the man who finds (comes to) wisdom. Proverbs 3:13

Since the day I could read I have been close to books and utilizing them often. Since the introduction of the electronic media into my life I have seldom spent a day away from access to it. I have communicated more and with more people because of two major influences... One being the Advent of the Holy Spirit into my heart and life... Two being the ready access to so much useful information through e-mail and the internet. Even the information that I already had received can become more beneficially used by review and renewal through the electronic media. So much good and useful information can now be received and exchanged that the enormity of it is mind-boggling.

I am weekly exchanging communications with people that I have not seen in years and with people all the way around the Earth whom I have never seen and they are in places where I have never been. Our opportunities are phenomenal. The opportunity to gain wisdom is more available to most of us than at any time prior to this moment and it is becoming larger and easier to obtain with the passing of each moment. We are in an information explosion. We must be careful to be selective in what we seek and take in for the enormity of it can overwhelm us and lead us away from the directions that we should follow.

Wise people, that is people who have wisdom (wisdom is the ability to rightly use what you know from education, application and experience), could become very commonplace in our world today... But I wonder... How many use the opportunities to follow through to wisdom.

One of my first lessons in right learning was to follow the rules or suffer the consequences... There were no gray areas there... Black and white... Right or wrong... Some of those lessons are just as real today as they were when they were applied to me at a very young, tender age.

Another lesson was to love the Ensign (Flag) of our nation... Respect it... Protect it! To this day I hate to see even a worn banner of the Stars and Stripes destroyed. I will never allow it to fall to the ground if I can stop it... Or I will retrieve it as soon as possible after I see it. It would not be safe to try and desecrate our Flag in my presence. I have one that is especially dear to me because it flew on the staff mounted on the front of my house until it became so faded and threadbare that it was hard to recognize from a distance. When I retired it I tenderly folded it properly and keep it in a safe place. Our flag elicits waves of emotion from me whenever and wherever I see it... Especially when it is presented by an Honor Guard or carried by our troops on parade... or in combat... And most especially when it is draped over the coffin of a deceased warrior who earned the privilege to have it there in memorial of their service and sacrifice. I learned to stand and salute it's passing, every time it passes me carried in it's proper position and condition... Even dozens of times in a parade. I learned to love it with even more tenderness when I was part of the detail to prepare the Flag draping the casket of our last officer to be killed in the line of duty. It was my duty to see to the proper folds and creases as we prepared to have the final viewing before the Celebration of Life.

I know that the Flag is only a piece of cloth...
But it stands for the nation into which I was birthed...
It stands for all of the opportunities that She has given me to rise from poverty and become a useful Citizen...
To become a Keeper of the Peace...
And to conduct my Spiritual Life as I see fit to conduct it or not to conduct it at all...
God gave me the right to be me and She guaranteed me every right and opportunity to achieve that goal as long as I was lawful and did not infringe upon the rights of others.
I love these United States of America... Every rock, grain of dirt, mud, sand and drop of water that makes up Her composition physically...
I love every citizen that is here and I dedicate myself to this moment to seeing to their, peace, safety, Liberty, Justice and welfare.
I am just as much dedicated to those who are here but are not citizens as long as they realize that Justice is a vital part of my Creed and Code.
I came from a long line of ancestors from a lot of different places but I am an American Citizen of these United States of America.
Though I most dearly love my Scottish heritage and all that it brought to me...
I am an American!

Did you ever just sit down someplace alone or with a special loved one and contemplate what you are seeing... Where you have come from and what it took to give you that moment to think and see these treasures? I have wept at these moments and been most thankful... Deeply and tenderly touched.

In other moments in other times and places I have been where I could not stop to contemplate and enjoy but had to be forceful and unyielding in order to secure Justice or restore and secure peace in some situation that had been unlawful or destructive and had broken the peace and tranquility of my beloved community and Nation.

I am one man... But I am one who loves duty and has goals...
I have had to be many different kinds of men in many different situations...
I understand gentleness, tenderness and compassion...
I also understand toughness and use of force when it is warranted...
My education has been long and thorough...
But it is not going to ever be complete as long as I live and breathe in this life.

Just this week I had to return to the classroom and be trained again in how to direct traffic on the streets and roads... Then I had to go into an intersection with many lanes and several approaches and demonstrate that I had learned this particular duty I had been performing well for forty-five years. No matter how long I live I will never forget the lessons learned in that five-way intersection in front of McGuire Veteran's Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, so very long ago. There was no instructor standing behind and with me then as there was this week when I was there only a few minutes and the instructor said, "OK!... you can leave the intersection."

There were times in my early days when I had to direct traffic standing on a double solid yellow line in the middle of an intersection and over-ride the traffic lights, moving tractor-trailer trucks through the intersection past me at 45 mph so close to me that I could have reached out and touched the trucks as they passed by me on both sides at night and my only protection was a whistle and lighted flares in front of me and behind me. The training this week was to bring all personnel into certification and accreditation standards and no one was allowed to be exempt. They had to certify/guarantee that we were all following the same standards. Going through training and re-training is part of loving my country and submitting to duty and the rules governing peace and safety.

One of the readers sent a message to me that I needed to take some time off for myself... Well, I have been off from work and home the last two days resting and rejuvenating... My body dictated the time off and I was wise enough to listen. My daughter has been in the hospital again with an infected abscess in her right hip since Monday. I am writing this on Friday. This time we won the discussion with her wound care doctors and a surgeon was called in to install a Med-Port into her chest so that we can continue to run the IV Antibiotics to fight the systemic infection and finally be able to kill it. The abscess was not opened but is weeping through the skin and through a tunnel into the right end of the abdominal, surgical wound. The wound itself is doing great with multiple daily cleanings with Dakins Solution (diluted Chlorine bleach) and packing with sterile gauze. She was supposed to come home today but I am still waiting for a call to go and pick her up. With the exception of not opening and draining the abscess we are now satisfied with the course of treatment because we can now pursue what we know works for her. This also eliminates the costly by mouth antibiotics that were prescribed when her PIC Lines failed and that the insurance company did not want to cover. The co-pay on that medication was unbelievable.

On Wednesday I was patrolling and had just crossed the line of my duty area in order to turn around and go the opposite direction (a long bridge is the dividing line and I cannot turn around in the middle of it where the line is). I was sitting at the traffic light waiting for it to change to allow me to do a U-turn when I saw a car further down and across the divided highway that was stopped all the way to the right with the four-way flashers on. I checked traffic and proceeded to the location.

The car had just stopped running as it crossed the bridge and coasted to a stop. There was a young woman driver and she knew nothing about cars. The car would not fire when the starter was engaged. The starter worked fine but the engine would not fire... a very good indication of no gas to the cylinders. The gas gauge was low so I offered to transfer some gas to her car to see if we could get her started and on her way home. Some time back the transfer valve in my patrol vehicle failed and I requested it be repaired or replaced. I have used it twice in the past week since the repair and now it works more efficiently than ever. It used to take twenty to thirty minutes to transfer enough fuel to do the job. Now it takes only about five minutes. I transferred the fuel... The car started when it would not run at all before... And she proceeded thankfully on her way. She could not believe that there were officers like me out there to provide such a service to the people on our streets and roads for their peace and safety.

During this week, thousands of you have done many things that have contributed to or secured the peace and safety of your citizens. I wish all of them had responded as well to you as this young woman responded to the service that I gave to her. I share this incident to encourage you that not all people are difficult and cross when we do what must be done. I experienced several very good responses in the past couple of weeks but I do what I do because it must be done... I agreed to do what must be done (including training)... I do what must be done to the very best of my ability even if the only satisfaction I get is my knowing I have done a good job. Throughout my whole career, the appreciation that I receive most often is my personal acknowledgment,
to myself, that I did a good job. It has been a good journey for me even if it ended tomorrow.

Thank you, all of you and each of you, for who you are and for what you do. There would be no peace and safety in this world if you had not stepped up to take the place you now occupy and agreed to do what is your assigned duty to do for the peace, safety and welfare of all people concerned... Especially for those people close to where you do your duty. My Commander-In-Chief and I are eternally grateful for your service wherever you give it, whether at home or on foreign fields.

"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!" Do not ever let down from being alert, watchful, suspicious and wary. Take the very best of care of you as you care for and about others... Especially seeing to the care and welfare of your own spiritual life. It must be strong for you to be successful.

Call or write if I may be of any service to or for you.

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,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety)
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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