Police Youth Camp Narrative

Every summer I work at the Fraternal Order of Police Youth Camp. This camp is for poor, underprivileged, and abused boys and girls in the Nashville area. I work the all-boys camp in July with twenty-five or thirty Metro Nashville Police officers. The amount of love we show to those kids is indescribable. We take these kids under our wings for one whole week, Monday thru Saturday, where they spend the night at camp with us and spend time away from the terrible environment where they live. Our main goal in the camp is to teach the young boys how to grow up and be respectful men. We try and teach them the right things to do in their lives and not do what others do around them. The goal I have for myself each year is to show love to at least one boy in the camp. I want that one boy to remember me and know that he can always reach me if anything happens. This past year at camp, I had a young seven year old who did not know how to use a shower, sink, or even a toothbrush. I was heartbroken right then and there. I walked out and told Lt. James about the boy’s situation. He said just go back in there and teach him how to use them and

You can say I love you to whoever and whenever, but do you really say it for the right reason? Love is not an emotion. Action is how love is shown. Doing something nice for someone like mowing their grass, unloading groceries, or even talking to them when they are lonely is showing love. I cannot help but to think back to the verse in the Bible, 1 John 3:18 which says, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.” I also love the quote, “If love were just an emotion, then God couldn’t command it. But love is something you do. It can produce emotion, but love is an action” (Warren). Emotions come after the action has been done. Love is the passionate affection for someone. Love is an action, not emotion. People around the world and even in Tennessee