I'm sure I'm the only one who notices certain things like police dogs, police vehicles, policemen/policewomen, and police stations; I mean living in the city, state, or country that I do, how can you not take note of these things. I've lived in Fresno, California for far too long and I cannot remember a time, EVER, where there was not a report of violence or some sort of crime in our city. There isn't a day or night that goes by without hearing the sounds of sirens or seeing the ever so intimidating presence of our local police force who are placed here to "serve and protect".

The word jaded is apropos when it comes to my feeling of police in general within the USA, I've had the pleasure of venturing to a few states within the USA and being reminded of how over the top this country is with its police presence. Now, there are some who would argue that we need more officers because we have so many criminals and I for one, having had my home robbed and life changed due to said robbery, would argue that criminals have too many rights and if their rights were stymied and prisons constructed to properly house felons, we as a society wouldn't have such a mess on our hands. I know, it's systemic and from young ages boys and girls are setup to either go the right way or the wrong way but either way, the presence of the police is ubiquitous.

To my surprise as I walked through the streets of Multyfarnham, Ireland, an ever so small city/village as the locals called it, I found people who were extremely pleasant and inviting and I wondered if this was real life or if people were merely putting on a show of some sort in order to keep tourism moving nicely. Again, I'm one who is always overly cautious when in a new/different environment due to the environment we live in here in the States and this type of calmness had me feeling a bit unsure as to what truly was afoot in the city.

I was told, "Yes, it's beautiful and yes it's calm but there are still bad people who steal and cause problems, however 99% of those people don't live in this city." There was even one person who said that if we blinked we'd miss their police station.

A place where goodness and blinking both happen. As I stared at their police station, I thought, "This is how it could be, IF..."