Living On a Movie Set

I remember some of the shows from my early years. They were odd, challenging and mysterious all at the same time.

They were mysterious because even at that time, “the latest in polyester and spandex” didn’t add up to a new planet or an unexplored world. One tear walking through a sticker patch and you can almost hear the rest of your shirt tear.

Some of the favorites, well, the fantasy I suppose, were of heroes, the testosterone-rich get-it-done and take-no-prisoners type of movies that probably drove young men to shooting ranges, martial arts studios and everything that makes wives and girlfriends cringe.

They were movies about accidental heroes, about heroes who sometimes disregarded structure for the sake of the mission and probably paid the price with the boss later.

I sometimes think of movies like the Mad Max series. The man, father, husband whose story was a mix of duty, unresolved grief and rage. It became a reluctant legacy of a man who just wanted to “do his eight and hit the gate” and hurry home to his paradise in the country: his wife, child, parents and acreage of green.

For anyone who has watched the movie, or a trailer, you know that dream didn’t last long.

We’re not there yet, but we have experimented with “Escape from New York.”

I wonder if Kurt Russell ever viewed his movie, or the next one based in L.A., as a prophetic screenplay? Who would have ever imagined 21st Century America debates the legitimacy of law enforcement; not just tweaking the focus, but calls for disbandment and defunding? Not me.

There are places I used to call home, and some I once wanted to call home, that now concern me. They concern me because metaphorically some of these places keep the wolves on a light-duty yard chain instead of something with grit.

I’m struck by how some of these movies are set in a time, well, pretty close to where we are, with reality unfolding as if fulfilling a fiction manuscript.

The trilogy Mad Max started with a young idealistic cop in the desert lands of Australia where lawless gangs were as much in control as the police. It was also a storyline of a man intermingling revenge, unaddressed grief, rage and duty all wrapped into one, while moment by moment choosing which side of the law to walk on. The hero, the lone wolf in the dime western sense of the word, drove off in the desert, unsure of his destination but hoping the next sunrise offered something different.

Probably just as curious is recollections of the movie “Escape from New York.” The plot starts with a world so lawless what government there is sets aside an entire city as a maximum security prison. Police didn’t go there. It was policed from the inside by a crime lord. Sounds almost familiar.

I guess I never thought I would live in a world where people, including elected officials, are urging the defunding and the disbanding of police departments. Um, yes it is happening. Even if we forget the recent riots, recall the footage of hurricane aftermaths and the looting that occurred. They weren’t stealing milk and bread and life jackets.

There was video of crowds leaving ravaged stores with flatscreen televisions, top of-the-line basketball shoes and clothes that less to do with survival and more to do with greed.

Law enforcement agencies undergo special tactics training because they have to keep up with the escalating abilities of the lawless population. Remember to say a prayer of thanks it isn’t happening here. If you say that prayer, remember to include a prayer of safety for those who wear the uniform, who do what they can to maintain an ordered society.

The question that isn’t being answered is when the anti-government, of any definition, “furloughs” the last police officer, who will be in charge. Will we be resigned to gang warfare, a variation of Mad Max and Gangs of New York, or will we quickly move to a police state, the very thing opponents of law enforcement already dislike? We have to remember a police state never ends well for the people. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

There’s still time for a u-turn, if we decide to take it.

“If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)”