As a freshman, along with my c/o 1970-classmates at Hamilton College, I took a vocational interest/aptitude test (Strong Interest Inventory), designed to offer at least some direction to the clueless (where I was eminently qualified) about our future life/career directions and choices.
The results for potentially successful, or even suitable, career paths were clearly unclear. My highest scores* were at best fuzzy "Maybe?"s. On the flip side, however, there were three career paths that definitively fell into the "For the love of all that is holy, NO!!! Run away, run away fast!!!"
Not only were those scores low, they mirrored the stock market line graph on a bad day, red lines in solidly negative territory. Compared with my friends, only I had even one negative score, much less three. The highest of the lowest was Industrial Arts teacher, where I would have been not only manifestly incompetent, but a danger to myself and others. (Kind of like arming me with a gun in my classroom.) Moving literally down the scale was Pastor, so my later thoughts about opening Bob's Church & Taco Stand were obviously a goof.**
My worst score, though, was reserved for police officer, accurately predicting my casual, at best, relationship with both rules and their enforcement. Although I was undoubtedly not a good fit in law enforcement, I nevertheless respected the men (and, much, much later, women) who served their communities in that role, doing a necessary job that I could never have performed at any level of competence, not even in radar trap towns like Bella Villa, Marlboro, or their north county cousins. I do have several friends and formers who took on those un(der) appreciated tasks, though, and I thank and respect them.
But this current crop of ICE agents, hired to fill a number quota*** established only because it sounded big and ended with 4 zeroes? Honestly, I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror (which the aging process and fading faculties already make problematic) if that had been where I ended up. Maybe there are some ICE agents with sufficient levels of competence and compassion to earn my respect, who do not need to mask their identities, but what I’m seeing, generally, are men not qualified for even small squad police work, undertrained bullies with xenophobic axes to grind and brick-sized chips on their unimpressive shoulders (meeting a baseline recruitment standard that seems to be: breathing male {preferably white}, no DEI worries here), unfit both physically and attitudinally, encouraged by what so poorly passes for leadership in the current administration to indiscriminately**** throw their (often literal) weight around.
* Author, Journalist, Lawyer, not necessarily in that order
** The one time I tried to join a church, the pastor kindly, but firmly, said, "Oh, Bob, that's a lovely thought, but, really, you need to stay away from organized religion."
*** Quotas are good things now?
**** Net fishing for tuna scoops up dolphins, too.
