By William Corporal William Young
I used to work with a gentleman that lived on a small acreage about 40 minutes outside of town with his wife and young daughter. It was a beautiful place. He would always talk about how much work he had done to his house. He would talk about the new tile in the shower and how he had refinished all the wood work. He would talk about how much he enjoyed mowing his grass and how someday he was going to restore an old Massey-Fergusson and ride it in the 4th of July parade. He would talk about how much he loved his little girl. He would talk about how much he looked forward to seeing her chubby little face every day.
One day, he shared his nightly routine with me. He said every night after dinner he would thank his wife for the meal and kiss his little girl on the forehead before retiring to the barn. He had talked about his barn before and it sounded amazing. It was like a small apartment. He said it had a living room area with a big old comfy couch and nice flat screen TV hanging on the wall. And in the middle of the living room there was faux bear skin rug and a coffee table he said he had made out of some old fence pickets and a shipping crate. He had talked about a bar in the barn and how he would pour himself a glass of whiskey before he flipped on the TV. He said he would flip on the TV and plop himself down on the couch. Then he would set his glass of whiskey down on the table and he would reach between the couch cushion and the arm rest and he would pull out his .38 revolver.
He told me how he would pull out his revolver and he would pop open the cylinder. He said that every night he would pull six bullets out of his pocket and slide them into the cylinder. Then he would sit. He said that he would sit and drink and try to think of six reasons to not blow his brains out. He said that every reason he could come up with he would remove a bullet from the cylinder. When his glass of whiskey was empty he would put the barrel of the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger. He admitted that some nights the reasons were easier to think of than others.
I listened as he told me with a straight face about his routine. I couldn’t understand why a guy that seemed to have everything felt like he had nothing. I mean, I have been depressed before but never “put a gun in my mouth” depressed. How could anyone do that?
Then I thought about my own routine.
After a twelve hour shift I head to the big box taco shop and order seven or eight items and a large diet soda. Then I go home, turn on my TV, and plop down on my couch. I’ll wolf down my midnight Mexican meal and head to the kitchen. I’ll pour myself a glass of whiskey and use it to chase four ibuprofens and my blood pressure medication. Then it’s back to the couch where I’ll sit until 4 in the morning. About 4, I’ll head back to the kitchen to eat a couple of bowls of cereal before climbing into bed. Three hours later my alarm goes off and it’s time to get up and get the kiddos ready for school. I’ll cook up a cup of coffee and microwave a breakfast sandwich while I wait for the kids to get ready. After I drop them off, it’s back to the couch where I’ll think about getting up and being productive. I do some of my best thinking on the couch. I think about how I need to work out more and eat better and that I should get up and finally hang the door in the master bath. I think about my wife and my kids and how much I love them. About 11 o’clock I’ll fall asleep on the couch. At 1 o’clock my alarm goes off and I start to get ready for work. I’ll throw on my shirt and suck in my gut so that I can buckle my pants. I’ll let out a loud exhale, say that it’s ridiculous that my pants don’t fit and swear that I’m going to lose some weight. I slip on my boots and head out the door. On the way to work I’ll stop at a big box burger shop and grab three double cheeseburgers and a diet soda. I’ll feel a little silly getting three double cheeseburgers but I’m tired and I’m sick of working third shift so who cares. I’ll just eat two and save the other one for later.
The truth is my routine is no less deadly or dangerous the gentleman I mentioned earlier. We’re both killing ourselves. It’s just that I’m using burritos instead of bullets.
A lot of my fellow Officers have similar routines. We work long hours in a stressful environment that leaves us little to no time to take care of ourselves mentally or physically. Fatigue sets in and we spiral. We start to use unhealthy coping mechanisms such as alcohol or sleeping pills or food to give us temporary relief and instant satisfaction. We isolate ourselves from the rest of the world and conduct ourselves in a reckless manner. The disturbing thing is that most of us if not all of us know that we are participating in these destructive behaviors and yet we continue.
See, there is no difference between the guy with the gun and the pre-diabetic working on his fifth piece of pizza even though the majority of us think that there is. We think that because we’re not sitting alone in the dark clutching a firearm that this job doesn’t affect us. We ignore the symptoms and the signs and the suggestions and we say that nothing bothers us. If nothing bothers us than explain the days when we drive home on the verge of tears because of what we’ve seen or what was said. Explain the days when we can’t pull ourselves out of bed. Explain the weight gain and the lack of sleep. If nothing bothered us then we wouldn’t have subscribed to this newsletter and we wouldn’t have read this much of an article about this sort of thing.
We need to think about the bullets and the burritos and figure out where we are on that scale. Do some soul searching and look for your six reasons to get off the couch. Find your six reasons to stop drinking and overeating and use them as motivation to live a more fulfilling life. If you don’t have six, choose one. Choose one thing that is worth fighting for. Choose one person that loves you and wants you to live a longer and healthier life. Think of them when you’re alone in the dark. Let them be your light when you cannot find one.
Author Bio
Corporal William Young is a 14 year veteran of the Douglas County Department of Corrections in Omaha, Nebraska. He has worked throughout the facility in various areas ranging from Sanitation to Segregation and is currently assigned to Community Corrections as a Work Release Officer. Corporal Young is a certified Emergency Preparedness (LETRA) instructor and also teaches Motivational Interviewing and “From Corrections Fatigue to Fulfillment”. Corporal Young is a member of the Crisis Intervention Team and the Crisis Negotiation Team.
Corporal Young understands and acknowledges the damage that working in a Correctional environment can do to a person’s physical and mental health. Battling Fatigue himself, Corporal Young is determined to assist his fellow brothers and sisters by helping them identify, manage, and reverse the side effects and symptoms of working in such an environment.
For questions or comments related to this article please contact Corporal Young at Justcorrections@gmail.com
If you, someone you love or know needs help, call:
Safe Call Now: 24 Hour Confidential Hotline: 206-459-3020
For more information on the First Responders program: Click here
Or call Shannon Clairemont at 661-466-6352 or Vanessa Stapleton at 304-651-3008
