The True Meaning of “Public Servant”

Sometimes we take our public servants for granted. They are sometimes even derided and maligned, sometimes with good reason, and sometimes without. But this week I heard a story that reminded me why we call our public servants, public servants.

I was visiting one of our members who lives in a nursing home. He and his wife live a couple of doors apart from one another, but spend most every day together. One afternoon they were in the lounge down the hall from their rooms. They were only there a couple of hours.

When the poor man returned to his room he discovered that his brand new flat screen TV was gone…vanished…disappeared. He immediately called the nurses station and reported that his TV was gone. They were concerned and told him that they were going to call the police.

Next thing he knew, the man was being questioned by the police. As the policeman was doing his questioning, he noticed that the man is a true hero. He is a veteran. He had served our country in World War II.

The policeman said it was bad enough that someone would steal a TV from a person in a nursing home. What was worse, he said, was that they stole the TV from a veteran who lives in a nursing home. That’s the lowest of the low.

Right then and there the public servant decided to do something that would define the term “public servant.” He went back to the police station and took up a collection. All of the police officers at the station contributed, and the next day the policeman came to the man’s room with a brand new TV. It was identical to the one that had been stolen.

Now that’s a good cop. That’s a public servant.

Do you have a story of a public servant going above and beyond the call of duty? If so, leave it in the comment section below.

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

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