Friday, April 13, 2018

442: DISPATCHED - CONSCIENCE OR CONFORMITY


I just finished reading a book written by my friend, Eric Moutsos. In the book, Eric tells his untold story of how he served as a Salt Lake City Police Officer and was later placed on administrative leave for voicing his conscience. The title of the book is Dispatched: Conscience or Conformity.

Definitions of the book title (courtesy of Mr. Webster) 

Conformity
The act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others.

Conscience
The inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives,impelling one toward right action.

Dispatched
To dismiss, send off, to depose of promptly,  or even the act of putting to death, execution

-----------------------

Here are a few quotes from the book:

Our culture has accepted two huge lies, The first is that if you disagree with someone, you must not like them....the second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.

Our lives are a sum total of the choices we have made.

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.