There’s a man on the outskirts of Mobile who spends a good part of his days making bombs. He uses items he finds around town and buys from retail stores. He then sends his bombs to his buddies to see if they can disarm them. It’s a game and, believe me, it’s a game you and I should be grateful they’re playing.
I’m participating in a seven-week course called the FBI Citizens Academy. For two hours each week about twenty of use hear how the FBI works, and we meet their agents. Last night we met the bomb guy. He stays sharp by creating bombs that he may encounter made by the bad guys. He tries to get in their heads by making bombs out of the same materials they would. The bombs out there, he says, are getting more sophisticated, as the items available to the public are getting more sophisticated. He mentioned light sensitive triggers, much like the light sensors on my flood lights that toggle their nighttime settings.
The closest parallel I’ve come up with is that the FBI is like a hospital emergency room. People go to the emergency room because something bad has happened. Similarly, the FBI doesn’t act because something good is happening, they react to bad threats, bad news and bad events, and I learned last night, just like emergency rooms have busy seasons like Halloween and New Year’s Eve, the FBI gets busier around Christmas. A Christian holiday where people gather to celebrate their Christian faith is a dinner bell for some bad guys. Underground news begins percolating and rumors of attacks ramp up around the holidays. The FBI responds to all of it, every one, and the bomb guy stands by, ready to diffuse the device, explode it safely, or worst-case scenario, examine the scene for evidence and ask witnesses many seemingly irrelevant questions including what color the smoke was. All of it helps to solve the puzzle and find the maker.
You and I live mostly unaware of complexity of the work of the bad guys. We live mostly unaware of the constant activity of the FBI. It’s white-collar crime, violent crime, sextortion, terrorism and much more. Add to that the sometimes brutal criticism from the public who knows nothing about their work, yet feels superior enough to criticize, including our former – and perhaps future – commander in chief.
Keeping the team motivated must be difficult. They’re focused day and night on evil, malice, and destruction often without the support of the loudest voices in our communities and nation, but my takeaway is these are tough men and women who are compelled to serve, to simply serve. They’re givers in a land of takers - every one of them.
Six weeks ago, our class began with this: The bad guys want to be bad. The good guys want to be good. The bad guys work very hard every day to be bad. The good guys work very hard every day to be good, and the bad guys only need to be bad once.
Before the class began, I was fond of the FBI. Six weeks later, I’m deeply grateful.
I’m Cam Marston, just trying to Keep it Real.
