Walking the Line: An Instructional Sharing
By Staff Writer: Paganus Greybeard
Serve. Preserve. Protect. Defend. Four simple words. Four simple, basic
words. These are the words that Police & Fire, Medic’s and Surgeon’s,
Soldier’s, Sailor’s, Marine’s and Pilot’s know very well. They are also
words that a certain segment of Private Industry lives by - those of the
Public Safety, Private Security and Loss Prevention Officer’s. I was
once Private Security. Legally, in a way, I still am and always will be.
I am Licensed by the State of California. I am legal to work as a
Security Officer in the State of California. I carry what is known as my
“Guard Card". It is not all that easy to obtain. You need to take - and
successfully pass - a first segment of 40 hours of instruction - then
later another 40 hours of instruction. I have more than that. I have
nearly 120 hours of instruction. I have been working Security for nearly
five (5) years. I do not work Security anymore. But that is always open
to change. I still have and carry my “Guard Card". I just got my renewal
today.
While it is in doubt as to whether I will ever work Security again - I
will always consider myself a ‘Security Officer’. It is my inner
attitude that is important - not my status of employment. While not
being currently and actively employed as an ‘Officer’ means I do not
wear the ‘badge’ and carry the ‘equipment’ it does not effect my
attitude and behaviour. I still walk by fenced lots and visually check
the gates. I walk in the store and scan the aisles, shelves, counters
and check-outs. I walk into my ‘bank’ and do a fast check of who is in
there and where they are. I walk into the Library and do the same thing
- see who is there and where they are.
That is just your very basic ’situational awareness’. I carry my
c-phone with me. I carry my notebook and camera with me - but this may
be more of a hold-over from my newspaper days as much as it is from
anything related to Security. Some things become some so ‘automatic’
that you often do not even consciously think of them anymore - you just
do them. That is what your training is for. Training takes time.
Learning what that training is teaching you takes time. Even after my
hours and weeks of training when I was first sent out to a post - I was
nervous and unsure of myself. I was trained - but I was not yet skilled.
That took time. That took work. That took effort to read beyond what was
expected by the Classroom, Instructor and the State regulations.
I went beyond all of that. I knew I had to. I knew that at that point -
on a post and by myself - I had to do everything else myself. I read
books and magazines. I bought copies of the legal codes. I bought some
‘equipment’ and learned - as best I could - how to use it. I was new to
the job - but I was learning fast. One of the things I learned right at
the beginning was that your “Field Supervisors” are - in very large
measure - worthless. They drive the company vehicle and show up for a
few minutes each shift to make sure you are still awake, functional and
alive. They may bring information out to you at the job-site - but this
is rare. They basicly spend their shifts driving from post to post and
knowing none of them. I made sure I learned my posts very, very quickly.
Because even if it was a new post to me - I knew I might have to explain
it to the “Supervisor".
As absurd as that sounds - it did happen. “Supervisors” rarely - if ever
- took the time to do any of that. They simply - as far as I was able to
determine - did not care. Serve. Preserve. Protect. Defend. Let’s look
once more at these four words. There is another group of workers for
whom these words apply. To what Readership is this Article written?
Yes…… The Clergy and Church. Priests. Pastors. Fathers. Friars.
Bishops. Cardinals. The “Men/Women of the Cloth". But wait - this
Article is for MysticWitch.com - not for “Mainstream Denominational’s
Today". Mystic Witch. Mystics. Witches. Pagans. Druids. Chaotics? Along
with the occasional “Eclectic Solitary BardicMagus-in-Training". Yea -
Verily. Your humble Paganus Greybeard. The former(?) ‘Security Officer’.
My ‘badge’ is now my pentacle and my celtic shield/cross. Unless again
employed to walk the night I need none other. Now - in some strange way
- more than at any other time - those four words have an added depth of
meaning. Let us begin with Service. On one of my very first nights
employed as an ‘Officer’ I had a situation to deal with. I found a young
woman walking across my job-site. She was in a terrible emotional state.
She was - it was obvious - ‘running away from home’. I met up with her.
She saw the uniform - I doubt very much if she ever really saw me - and
seemed relieved. Something had gone very wrong at home and she was
‘getting out’. I walked with her across my job site. I did not do much of anything at
all. I simply walked with her and listened to her story. I was providing
Service.
Let us continue with Preserving. I have often been the
‘Officer’ to be called in to work a shift. I am Reliable. I am
Dependable. I know the job-site and can get the work done. I Preserve
both the “Company’s’ and the ‘Client’s’ Peace 0f Mind. In one of my
job-sites a small - and not frequently mentioned - part of the duties
was to protect and preserve the natural landscape. It was an underground
water and service conduit construction site. The job-site was actually
leased from a farmer. It was part of the contract of the ‘Client’ that
the land - as much as would be possible - be returned to it’s ‘original’
pre-project condition.
We come now to Protecting. I did this on many of
my job-sites simply by being there. One night in particular I was
effective in deterring a possible, potential ‘threat’ to the ‘clients’
property and business. It was a vehicle repair and service facility. It
also served as a ‘lock-up’ yard for those vehicles being worked on. One
night as I was doing my ‘walk-abouts’ I heard a noise.
A noise I was primed to listen for. I had an intruder attempting to
climb the fence. I moved quickly - and not at all quietly - and shone my
flashlight in the intruder’s direction. A fast scramble and running feet
were heard. I also hustled. We were located near a major freeway - in
fact the back side of the job-site backed-up to the railway which was
next to the freeway. I reached the far back corner of the job-site in
time to see a dark SUV hurriedly drive away. I stopped - caught my
breath - and did a quick site survey and inspection. Nothing was
disturbed or damaged since my last ‘walk-about’ less than an hour
previous. All was - again - quiet and ‘code-4′.
We come now to Defending. While I have not been directly involved in any open conflicts
this is a daily part of the Armed Services duties. They go ‘…in harm’s
way…’ so that we do not have to. So does the County Sheriff and the
local City Police. This is how those four words apply to the Uniformed
Military and Civilian Emergency Services as well as Private and
Industrial Protective Security. But as the Paganus I see these words in
my life even if I am not wearing the ‘badge’ and earning a paycheck.
For me - your “Eclectic Solitary BardicMagus-in-Training” - these four
words still do apply. We start again with Service. Without even knowing
it at the time I was providing Service to that lost and distraught young
woman as I walked with her across my job-site. I was not yet aware of
the Lord and Lady and the Earth Mother as part of my Life. But I was
doing what needed to be done anyway. Now that I do not carry any ‘badge’
how I Serve? I am doing that now - as I Write these words you will soon
be Reading. I Write the ‘Workings’ that occasionally appear here. I
occasionally even ‘work’ the ‘Working’. I Share what I have Read and
Learned. For the present time here on MysticWitch is where I Serve. We
come next again to Preserving. It is my own household where I find my
Preserving work these days. I Preserve the Quiet and Lack of Conflict
and Controversy by being Discrete and Circumspect. I keep certain
aspects of my participation in/with MysticWitch very, very quiet. I am -
in very brutal and undiplomatic truth - Preserving my place to live by
not being overly obvious about MysticWitch and these writings.
Perhaps at some time in your life you also had to do some discrete and
quiet diplomacy. You may have had to avoid Conflict and Controversy with
family and perhaps even friends and co-workers. This is not bad. This is
not bad at all. You are Preserving your friends and your employment. You
are Preserving the Peace and Quiet. Yet - for some - this is not enough.
They go forth and save forrests, rivers, lakes, meadows and even
farmland and parkland spaces. This too is also Preservation. This is
Serving, Preserving and Protecting the Land. I have not done much of
this. Have you? Have you saved a tree? Cleaned up a park? Worked on
cleaning up a farm? These are all viable and worthwhile activities for
the Readership.
We now come again to Protection. Here it is again human Dignity and
Honour that the Pagan, Wiccan or Druid is concerned with. While the
“Mainstream Denominational’s” may not see the Pagan, Wiccan or Druid in
a positive light - it is incumbent upon the Pagan to not respond or
react to the negative. The Pagan must not react or respond unless it is
a direct threat situation and then - as it always is - you do what you
have to do. All bets are off. First are foremost it is the Children you
must Protect. Not all the threats against the Children are obvious and
blatant like the schoolyard bully. As was recently seen in the news
there is the “Celebrity” with decidedly twisted tastes. Or the “Judge”
that banned “Wiccan” education in the home.
The Pagan, Wiccan and Druid must be awake and aware of all the possible
and potential threats. As we are concentrating on the Children - we must
not ever forget the Elderly, the Sick and Infirm and the Lost. It is for
them also that we work and serve. We come once more to Defending. Here
all the previous can come into play. Are you blocking a forrest’s
destruction? Or are you planting trees to prevent another hillside’s
sliding collapse? Are we tending the lost and abandoned in a Shelter?
Are we building shelters for the homeless? Are we helping to tend to the
homeless in some way? And let’s clearly note here that ‘homeless’ need
not always mean human….. Are we working as a Citizen’s Patrol
Volunteer? Are we a part-time Medic or Patrol Officer?
All of these are valuable and viable. In Defense we are combining all
of the three previous in our efforts for the Earth Mother. For it is for
the Earth Mother we are Serving & Preserving & Protecting & Defending.
Even if we are in Uniform - and may not even be even remotely aware of
it - it is for the Earth Mother we are all working. Again - as I had to
learn for “Security” work - ‘working’ for the Earth Mother requires
Training. It takes time - as it always does - to learn the lessons the
training is teaching. It is more than just the lessons we work for
KarmicJourney. It is in the daily life experiences that what we learn
through the Lessons is put to test. I Read the booklet and answer the
questions. But not until I have to deal with the society outside my
front door does what I have Read become an active part of my daily life
routine. I see, sense and feel things.
I always have sensed, seen and felt things. Now I can understand and
deal with them. As I did for my training in “Security” I go far beyond
the ‘texts’ and read other writers. I read books by Cunningham,
Starhawk, Grimmassi, Cantrell among so many others. I read my fellow
writer’s here on MysticWitch. I am now into my ‘Second Year of
Readings’. I am again learning fast. But unlike in “Security” there is
no real ‘Field Supervisor’. Life does not work that way. But since I
rarely had much to do with many of my ‘Supervisors’ I am comfortable
being on my own. But - Wait. Are we really on our own? Not if we have
been paying attention to our Readings and Writings. We do have
‘Supervisors’. They are our Guides and Guardians. They do care. They
don’t just show up for five minutes, get your signature on a time-check
sheet and leave. Your Guides and Guardians are with you always. I’ve
been on the streets, in the parking lots and alleys. I’ve walked and
patrolled my post. I’ve been out there at night when the sounds are
spooky and the shadows uncertain. I’ve been there and so have my Guides
and Guardians. I’ve felt them. I may not have seen or heard them - but I
knew they were there. Have you paid attention to yours? Isn’t it time
you did?
You may never ‘walk the line’ as I have done but you are a Reader and
Writer, Editor and Corespondent or even just a passing by Visitor to
this little comfortable place we call MysticWitch. Pay attention to your
Guides & Guardians. They are there for you. Serving. Preserving.
Protecting. Defending. Four simple words. Four simple, basic words.
Remember the song? - “Because you’re mine - I walk the line….". I may
not always wear black but I do get the message.
Did you?
Do you?
Will You?
As Always Let’s Remember to - BE Careful and Cautious out there….
Stay Safe and Secure out there….
Let Our Guides and Guardians Serve, Preserve, Protect and Defend us out
there….
Let our Lord & Lady - {Or your choice/preference of Deity/Divinity} -
Keep Watch Over us and Bless us and give us their Peace…..
Such as it was - it was -
Such as it is - it is -
Such as it will be - it will be….
So Mote It Be.
Blessings Be.