INTERACTION

Interaction is something we all need.  No one of us is an island unto himself.  Last week I received one of the most encouraging responses that I have received since I have been writing. No matter how good or bad I feel, when I receive one of those encouraging messages it elevates my mood and feelings still higher.  I send my deepest appreciation to all of you who have responded to any of my messages in any way including the inquiries...  Thanks so very much.

Interaction, assistance, support, backup, communication...  In peace keeping these are activities that we cannot succeed without...  In life, these are activities that we cannot live without.  We might be able to exist but we are not able to live without them.  Sometimes that is true in peace keeping as well.

My daughter likes to watch the "COPS" types of programs especially if she can get me to sit and watch the programs with her.  I don't enjoy these programs because I have seen too much of the real thing and when I am off duty I like to stay away from it when I am relaxing...  But so that we can have light interaction and do something together that is neither health care nor work, I watch the programs with her.  My being with her doing something she likes makes it more pleasant for her.  What helps her helps me.

My Journey through life has been long, arduous and sometimes extremely enjoyable.
No achievement was gained without the input of someone else before the event or during the event.  I am a composite of all of the people and information that has affected me since I began this life journey.  Even the negative information and negative people experiences brought about some positive quality as I worked to not allow the negative information or experience to cause destructive responses in me.  Somewhere, very early in all of this living and activity, I decided to live as positively as possible and have never stopped searching for ways and means to improve my personal life and those talents invested in me.

As I considered this attitude many years ago as a child I realized that there was no future for me if I stayed where I was...  So I left my backwoods, country home and found a way to attend a different school with much more learning opportunities available to me.  I imposed upon many people to allow me to live with them for a short time so that I could gain this education and opportunity for my own benefit.  I was assisted by many people during those three years.  Their sacrifices for me to give me the opportunity to get out of the backwoods and into a better school system helped to form me into a useful man...  Useful to myself, to those whom I loved, to those around me if they needed or desired my assistance to them...  Ultimately helpful to a tremendous number of individuals as I entered into peace keeping and performed my job well...

Sometimes I was working with individuals...  Sometimes small groups...  Sometimes huge crowds...  During life experience it multiplied from few to many...  But always I knew in my mind and heart that most of the success was due to the time, effort and knowledge invested into me by family, friends, teachers, authors, peace keepers of the military and law enforcement, instructors... and enemies.  Yes, especially the experiences with my enemies gave me something useful that contributed to success in my life and in the lives of others.

Now most of my contemporaries are gone...  Many of the ones who contributed to my success are gone.  I am often told that I am older than dirt...  Of course most of them tell me that in a friendly and jesting manner, but sometimes I get it from young people who do not recognize and respect age and experience.  Most of those tell me that I am older than dirt to try and hurt my feelings or to discourage my efforts but they quickly have found out that I do not easily discourage and am not deterred from doing my duty.  Some made the mistake of thinking that age and weakness were always together...  But those quickly found out that was not necessarily so.

I am dependent upon many people every time I write one of these messages.  Yesterday my computer tech was here for three hours repairing and adjusting my cantankerous confuser.  Without him I would not have this machine that I use to compile and send out the messages.  Someone, somewhere, spent time constructing the machine...  Someone packaged it...  Someone hauled it from plant to provider...  A salesman sold it to me.  It sits upon a desk given to me by another ministry.  My chair was furnished by still another source.  The calming music was composed and recorded by still other people and others were involved in sending it to me...  I am talking about just one small facet of my life.  If I were to carry this all out to the ultimate revelation, I would be dependent upon innumerable people just to be able to sit here and compose and send this message.

I followed this trail just to illustrate to each one who reads this message that you are just as dependent upon others as I am.  Not one of you are self sufficient in today's world.  All of us depend upon others to provide the ways and means of everyday living, job specific necessities, training and testing in order to teach us how to do those jobs.  I have successfully passed through academic education, several apprenticeships, three basic schools, numerous in-service retraining schools, numerous specialized schools, several levels of higher learning and learned under field training officers and field instructors.  Every useful person has done the same to some degree of education.  Every Peace Keeper has done the same in order to be useful in the position in which they function.  Every Peace Keeper soon learns that learning can never stop for if you stop learning, you start losing ground quickly and the longer you do not learn the faster you lose ground because it accelerates.

Just before I retired from being a law enforcement officer I was in a Pursuit Driving Class.  I was 64 to 65 years of age at the time.  The course was marked with rubber cones on an old airfield.  We were to carry an instructor with us and catch a fleeing car before the end of the course.  Upon the signal I started to pursue the fleeing car...  I caught him half way through the course and practically pushed him the rest of the way without striking the fleeing car nor striking any cones.  The instructor was rather pale at the end of the course when he got out of the car I was driving...  He said, "**@#, You haven't lost anything, have you?"  I had 43 years of experience at that time.

Any expertise I possess is as useful as possible to me because I maintain good health, good attitude and good spirit.  All of this I learned from others as I was progressing along the journey from childhood to here.  I expect to continue this condition of life for as long as I live.  I am committed to doing the best I can for me so that I can do the best I am able for you.  Moses was 40 years old when he entered into a training program that lasted another 40 years...  He then functioned as he was prepared to function for another 40 years (learning and being taught all along the way)  before the Commander-In-Chief took him from here.  It says in the Book that his eye had not dimmed nor had his strength abated at 120 years old...  That's the way I want to go and I will do all that I can to keep it that way.

Every week I close with a paragraph that reminds you to "be careful out there."  I remind you to be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  I remind you to see to your spiritual welfare.  I tell you that you can write to me or call me if I may be of any assistance to you.  Some write...  Some have called...  I try and respond to every communication, even if it takes hours, days, weeks or months to respond to you.  You get an answer as soon as I can give a response that the message needs.  You may not always like the answer...  You may not always use the answer...  But you will always get an answer unless I lose the message.  I will give you a reply even if I cannot give a usable answer to your inquiry. 

I do this because I have made the Journey before you.  If it is possible, I want to make your Journey less taxing on you and more successful for you.  Experienced, old dirt is still good for something because I keep it stirred, aerated, fed and maintained, adding to it the things that sustain and build life and proficiency.  My effort is made to pass anything useful that I can along to you.  All of you are as important to me as my own children are important to me.  I will do anything I can for you the same as I would do anything I can for them.  We are a family with ties far stronger than blood ties.  I love you, appreciate you and I am part of you.  That will never change as long as I am here to live, breathe and work.  Thank you for who you are and for what you do.  This world would be a terrible place in which to live if it were not for people like you in it.  Take some time to recognize and appreciate those in your life that help you every day in some way.  Your life is what it is because they are all there doing whatever it is that they do to assist you.  I thank God for all of them, for all of you and for the families and loved ones of all of you.
"BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!"  ALWAYS be alert, watchful, suspicious and wary.  Take the very best care of you as you care for and about others.  See to the strength and well being of your spirit as well as all the rest of you.  Your spirit must be strong for you to be successful.

Call or write if I may be of any service... Or if you just want to encourage me... Feedback encourages all who write... It helps to know we are reaching someone who reads the message.

Problems have arisen in my daughter's treatment.  She was doing so well the Infectious Disease doctor decided she did not need the IV antibiotics any longer so he took her off and changed to something by mouth.  We are five days into this and she is running a high fever.  This is usually a precursor to a systemic infection.  We have been through all of this before with his predecessors.  We see the surgeon again on Monday.  The wound is beautiful at this point.  If it stays this good we will be able to do skin grafts soon.  If we can ever get it closed we will have good success.  Thanks for the prayers and support.
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

Training and practice are everything!
Without them, the best results are not obtained!

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...
For God, Country and the Peace Keeper...
D. R. (Don) Staton, Chaplain to Peace Keepers,
Surviving Peace Keeper,
Virginia State Police Alumni,
RETIRED Police Officer Virginia Beach Police Dept.,
Senior Chaplain and Chaplain Administrator VBPD,
DCJS Certified Police Instructor,
Community Service Officer (Traffic Safety) VBPD
757-431-2190, chpln1@verizon.net
3709 Beacon Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23452
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