Posted on 05/08/2012 9:10:23 PM PDT by massmike
A retired Massachusetts state trooper, immortalized in a famous Norman Rockwell portrait as the wise and caring cop giving good advice to a little boy, died in his home state of New York over the weekend, state police said.
Staff Sgt. Richard J. Clemens Jr., who posed in 1958 for Rockwell’s famed painting, “The Runaway,” died Sunday at age 84.
“The painting of a trooper bending over in counsel to a young boy intent on leaving home captures — much more than any of the images of shootouts and car chases favored by popular culture — the highest ideal of police work: helping someone in need at a vulnerable moment,” Col. Marian McGovern said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Thanks for understanding knarf.
I’ll bet that ride on the *queen Mary* cost a nickel. :)
With "transfers", you could (and when we got older .. DID) travel all day, all over Boston, north and south shore (Y'had to be a little creative and clever) ...
for a nickel
Maybe it was a dime at that time, I forget.
Thank you for saying it! Well said. Norman Rockwell captured a lot of what is good in America.
That painting captured what America was supposed to be about. Officers were people to look up to and respect and you could trust.
Now days, the “thin blue line” bull and the attitude that pervades our law enforcement shamefully destroys any trust and respect that our police may have once earned.
The police state mentality that has been jammed up our backsides over the last few decades has helped to create the divides that are now coming to fruition. Cops are no longer trusted, but looked upon with anger and distrust. Cops are no longer our friend and someone to count on, they are a revenue collector for the town/county/state.
Today, cops demand a respect that they have not earned. The days of respecting law enforcement has been long gone and I fear will never return after things like Fast and Furious. Law enforcement is a disgrace to very ideals of our nation.
Rockwell immortalized something that politics has destroyed forever. Look at the criteria for hiring someone as a cop in the 1950’s vs. today. It’s frightening.
Yesterday I realized with horror that I couldn't find my wallet. I looked high and low. Unusual circumstance... it had a lot of money in it.
As I searched for it, I began to form the suspicion that I'd left it at the automated check-out machine at my small town's grocery store. Small town meaning ~8000 households.
I drove down there to report it missing. They had it. All the money was in it.
When I got home I put 1/3 of it in an envelope and took it back there in an envelope, with a thank-you note enclosed. Should be enough to pay for their annual employee picnic, if they have one.
My point is that Rockwell’s America exists today as it did in his time, in individual Americans who do the right thing when no one is looking.
Like any society, America is a mixture of types, very good to very bad. One big difference between America, though, is that the average person doesn’t have to think about the national government here very much unless you want to. Of course, if you decide to live your life with your lips fastened to the government teet, you’ll probably be thinking about the government quite a bit. That’s your choice though, and no one forces you to live that way. In lots and lots of countries — most, I guess — you’ve got no choice at all. It’s the government teet or nothing.
Much appreciated.
Leni
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