We all come from a similar demographic I suppose, had good schooling, have strong characters, have a compassion for and understanding of others.
We are a diverse lot to look at, male, female, straight, gay, brown, white, old, young-ish. We all, at some stage in our lives, wore blue and served our communities.
Now almost all are retired from fulltime working life. Most have had full lives; few remained in the police all their working lives. It’s not that kind of career. It takes a toll, believe me.
There are far easier ways to make a living. We now cover a good many of the professions: the trades, business, public service roles, the clergy, the military.
University claimed many of us later in life. We were too busy for that sort of stuff as young people.
Our political views vary widely; we are a very broad church of adult New Zealanders, left wing, right wing, centrists. We do not seem to have people with extreme views. They just do not make the cut.
Although it is a small community, it is a very busy community of people. Most of us are still active in our community, still doing “little jobs”, still even making a quiet dollar. Some are always travelling; some actually are nomadic, living in house buses, forever chasing the horizon.
Kindness seems to permeate the group. Many of us face health challenges as we are getting older and feel safe and supported to talk about that stuff.
Some of us don’t wander far from home nowadays so the group is a great way to stay in touch with old friends, to still feel a little relevant. To remember days gone by when we were young and very fit, the things we did, the things we saw and cannot unsee.
As above, we do a bit of religion. Not much. Even for most of us, it’s a private matter.
I was concerned about allowing it at first but others said to give it a crack, what can go wrong? Well, nothing really.
We have a few clergy in the group, people who, after policing, found a religious vocation. They do not push themselves, just friends. Different denominations.
They tend to mostly bring a sense of peace and understanding to discussions that, occasionally, border on the passionate.
One member posted a religious question recently. I thought “this could be interesting”. It was, 75 comments later it has started to settle. People shared who mostly would keep their feelings and thoughts about organised religion to themselves. It was amazing.
Some were passionate in their beliefs, others passionate in their atheism. Many sort of cruise through life being the best people that they can be, probably like most people.
One guy called his God “Hughie”. He admitted to calling on Hughie a few times in his life, once on the side of Mount Everest wondering if he was going to get off the big rock, once while being shot at as a cop.
Also while he was busy having a heart attack - and then when he got his Visa statement one time. I liked that, the guy’s God is his mate.
Quite a few admit to “a bob each way”, covering their bets.
A lot of humour too. I suppose some serious stuff is best delivered with a good dose of humour.
What the response to the post told me is that we are more a friendship group than a group of people who, at one time in our lives, had something in common, a career, a way of life, a calling.
We are friends, even a family in a way. Many of us know a lot about each other, about other’s journeys, their challenges and pain, their joy, their successes. Their families.
We live all over the world now. Mostly in New Zealand and Australia though.
I assume there are other groups like ours. Not big groups, not issue-driven groups, just groups of friends who have something in common, who know each other well. Who have a great sense of humour. That’s needed nowadays.
