A Message for Retirees

A good read and pretty accurate:

• I’m in my 28th year on the job, 17 of those as a sergeant. I’m staring down retirement, and I’m not expecting a parade. I’ll likely get the popular cake and coffee send-off, and then it’s done. And that’s OK. Cake and coffee are how it should be, because not every department or municipality can give extravagant goodbyes due to ever-tightening budgets. What I am expecting, because I’ve seen it over and over again, is to be forgotten. Quickly.

  I’ve watched it happen to good people, respected people, officers who gave everything, who bled for their agency, who mentored generations of cops. Not one of them got the long memory they expected. Six months out, their names rarely come up. A year later, it’s like they were never there. That’s the truth no one tells you when you’re gearing up to walk away. The silence is real, and no one is immune to it.

  There’s a common saying that gets passed around: “Forty-five minutes out the door and you don’t matter anymore.” I don’t know who created that quote, but whoever it was really nailed it.

A short while into what we hope is a long and enjoyable retirement, this strikes a chord, especially after the last promotional class where we only knew a couple names. The job moves on without you. And at some point, we'll walk away from the blog, too.

Never make the mistake thinking the job loves you - it doesn't. It pays the bills, maybe it makes you smile or laugh, hopefully gifting you some good friends along the way, but it never has and never will like or appreciate you in a deserving manner.