Let’s look into why safety on our streets appears so poor.
It seems for some strange reason we hold our police force to a higher standard, as we should but why not hold everyone to the same high standard no matter their job, gender or ethnicity. We should all be held accountable for our actions, after all we are all the same, we all scream for equality, maybe we don’t quite understand equality.
Let’s examine the Croydon tram driver that killed 7 passengers in 2016. The cause of this horrific incident was due to this professional driver losing awareness and travelling at three times the speed limit. The driver, Alfred Dorris, did not face prosecution due to a lack of evidence, although there were seven bodies and 7 families destroyed, does he not deserve the same as Wayne Couzens or is a mere tram driver killing seven innocent travellers not as bad as one police officer killing one female? Where’s the equality and why are the standards so different, so one sided?
Four areas where standards have slipped dramatically:
Attitude
People today I feel, have a “that’ll do” attitude towards work and everyday life. The population not only lack motivation, ambition and drive but seem negative towards life itself. It’s always someone else’s fault I keep hearing or in most cases the government and Boris Johnson, I hear it on the news and on the streets daily. What is wrong with our society that it feels so helpless to help themselves? Instead of a culture to encourage positive thinking such as applying for jobs, healthy lifestyles or helping out those less fortunate we concentrate on colour and those wanting a better life, a seemingly negative attitude towards everyone.
Respect
Everyone wants respect but no one wants to earn it, I can’t see how an overweight police officer or ambulance technician can gain respect when they obviously don’t respect themselves. The younger population need role models, not models that eat rolls. It is the responsibility of the older generation to encourage our youth to do better and lead by example, we all need a role model and I don’t mean Bill Gates or Richard Branson, real people mums and dads. A day’s work for a day’s salary? Not a cheque at the end of each month from the government, that’s benefits, it’s not a job and it’s not working. It seems today people would rather lay in their beds than get up wash and go to work, work seems to be a chore and something our grandparents did?
Pride
People no longer take pride in what they do for work or how they look in today’s society. No matter your job, whether that’s a cleaner, postman or a teacher, pride is about setting high standards for yourself and living up to them. You should be proud of what you do and how you present yourself. That means wearing a clean shirt every day, taking a shower in the mornings and turning up to interviews looking presentable, not wearing cut down jeans, a least wash them.
Integrity
Integrity is a quality we should all strive for daily, honesty and having strong moral principles, but it seems most of today’s population don’t understand the meaning. Integrity is not just being nice for one day, you should show integrity in everything you do, especially when around others. Take responsibility for your actions and admit when you’re in the wrong. Don’t point fingers; that shows that you can’t handle the responsibility for the things that you do, and people won’t trust you.
Overall, referring back to what tragically happened to Sarah Everard, does it matter what gender or ethnicity she was? This could have happened to any one of us. We are all from the same planet and deserve to all be given the same opportunities. Where is the equality in treating her incident different to the 7 passengers killed in 2016? We all need to do better as community living on a planet that is getting smaller by the day.