We have an epidemic on our hands. When I was younger I thought that my father's job was cool. So when my brother became a police officer three years ago, I just thought it's cool that he wants to continue in our father's footsteps. I never thought about how dangerous their jobs were. Why would I? They are out helping and protecting the community. They are serving the people who need them the most.

Don't get me wrong, I know my brother has a dangerous job. I watched my mom sit up and wait for him to call to tell her he was getting off of work the first few months on the job. Eventually, he stopped calling because we all knew that he was doing something that he loved.

I never worried about my brother's job until the "Black Lives Matter" Movement started. I started to realize that it didn't matter that he had a cool job or that he is great at his job, people would no longer see it that way. There was a line drawn in the sand and unfortunately, it was us (the police and their family) against them (people of the community).

I found myself having to defend the people who go out every day and defend us. I started to lose friends because they thought we were traders, and all of sudden my brother was on the wrong side of the law.

With all that is going on in the news about police officers being shot I wanted to shed some light on how that makes our family feel. We are all one big giant family and we all have to stick together. So when one of us is hurting it hurts us all.

Since the start of 2019, there have been 9 incidents where police officers were shot and 4 of them died. In the last week, we have had 2 officers shot here in North Carolina.

There are no marches for us and no one is out protesting in the streets for us. Our "Blue Lives" family matters just as much as anyone else. They put their lives on the line for us every day and they never seem to reap the rewards they deserve. They instead are targeted by people or shot at for no reason at all. A simple traffic stop can turn deadly for them in the matters of minutes.

They have to always be on guard and cautious when approaching a vehicle. It's not something that people think about the police having to deal with, but we do. There are a million scenarios running through our minds that we try not to think about when our loved ones are out doing their jobs, but sometimes we do.

There was a time when being a police officer was a noble profession, but today it seems like it's a curse. When in all honesty they are trying their best to serve their community and come back home to their families. Unfortunately, they do not all come back home to their families.