Many of us go through life never knowing what true fear is. We might get anxious about job interviews or feel our hearts racing during a scary movie, but for most of us, these are fleeting moments, forgotten five minutes after they end. Imagine if your life felt like this constantly. For police officers and their families, this is reality every day they go on the job. One officer’s wife told a story that brought this into sharp focus for those of us who simply can’t imagine.
It all started when Shannon Pisarek’s 9-year-old son Eddie wanted to watch Monday Night Raw. He tried asking his mom what channel it was on, but she directed him to FaceTime his dad, Philadelphia police officer Ed Pisarek. According to a post Shannon shared on Facebook, the two were in the process of getting the show up on TV when Ed’s radio went off, announcing a person with a gun. They immediately heard sirens kick on and Ed hurriedly said goodbye, assuring he would call back. Then he was gone.
This was the first time little Eddie had ever realized the danger his daddy faced at work every single day. He burst into tears, telling his mom “I’m scared for Daddy!” Shannon did her best to console him, but she felt the fear, too. The rest of her children came in to the living room to see what was the matter and the uneasiness spread. She reassured her young ones that “Daddy always comes home,” but none of them could relax until Ed called back. This poignant story should serve as a reminder to us all what officers face every day, especially in a day and age when all police face harsh criticisms for the actions of a select few. A few bad apples should not spoil our opinions on the bunch.
” asked him what was wrong, and for the first time ever, he sobbed “I’m scared for daddy!” I tried to tell him that this is what daddy deals with every night, that daddy always chases bad guys, but doesn’t daddy always come home? But the more I tried to console him, I realized that I had nothing to say to ACTUALLY make him feel better. I realized that it is scary, and that it is real life…And that as the family of a police officer, this is what we have to feel. This is our normal.So with his crying, his 2 nosey sisters came down to see what was going on. Before I could say anything, he told them what he heard on daddy’s radio. And with that, I had 3 crying kids telling me that they wanted daddy to come home. It was then that I realized I had nothing to say…All I could think of was “you guys know daddy is superman. Daddy always comes home.”
As I was hugging them, with tears welling up in my eyes too bc I was at a loss for what to say, Eddie’s Ipod starting to ring. Daddy was calling him back just as he promised…We all answered the FaceTime call together, crying, and Ed couldn’t help but kind of laugh when he saw us…And his response? “You guys know daddy is superman. I always come home.” Then he went back to showing Eddie what he needed on the tv. And all was right in his little world again.
Just thought I’d share for those that are so critical these days…We live in a sad time where our police are being demonized for every little step that they take… Where the criminals have more rights than our cops do, where “people” seem to think that our cops are the bad guys… When they’re really just out there trying to do the right thing, and come home every night to their families who love them, and to their kids who probably also think that their daddies are Super Man too. And that’s why blue lives matter.”
