I am so tired of hearing the complaints coming from all sides on the various issues and life situations.

Life is what it is: It is often unfair, demanding, unjust and darn difficult.

For all you complainers out there: Suck it up, or as Clint Eastwood, as Marine Gunnery Sgt.Tom Highway, said in the movie, "Heartbreak Ridge," "You adapt. You overcome. You improvise."

If you don't have a job, go find one, or do something you are good at, which can also bring in some money.

If you don't believe you are getting the respect you deserve, try being more respectful of others.

Set a goal and then go for it, come heck or high water.

Laugh a bit more. Stop taking everything as a personal affront. Maybe the person who just offended you is having a rough day or week.

All children should be taught from a young age to study hard in school, respect their teachers, play well with others and do the best job they can do, whether at home, school or work.

And, for Pete's sake, if a cop says, "Put your hands in the air," then, PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR and SHUT UP!

In this week's Guest View, Dr. Arthur Garrison states the murderer of New York City Police Department Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu on Dec. 20, 2014, if captured alive would have been arrested, indicted, tried and convicted.

"The police would not have called for justice for the officers because they would have gotten it without a word," Garrison writes.

He then questions why justice for the slain officers would have been assured.

Garrison answers his own question stating: "There would have been no question because the value of the lives of the officers was not open to discussion as to whether criminal accountability for their deaths was required....

"The deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown did not receive the same absolute reaction as the murder of Officers Ramos and Liu because they were labeled as criminal and a threat to the police."

The deaths of these two men "did not receive the same absolute reaction" because the situations were totally different. Not because Garner and Brown were black but because there was evidence, including video and testimony reasonable men needed to examine, view and evaluate.

Jumping to conclusions is what some people do just to stir the pot and keep devisiveness brewing.

The two NYC police officers, who were minding their own business, were assassinated – plain and simple. The call for justice has nothing to do with "the value of their lives."

All life is valuable and it forms the basis of our criminal justice system, starting with the sixth of the 10 Commandments in Old Testament Law: "Thou shall not murder."

Garner and Brown challenged the authority of police. Whether the reaction of the police officers involved was excessive or not was determined through the legal system. Yes, juries, just like individuals, can and do make mistakes.

But it has nothing to do with moral equivalency. Humans, all humans, are fallible.

My New Year's wish for 2015, is for all people, of all ages, stripes and denominations to be successful, to achieve their full potential and to live a life of which they can be proud, not ashamed.

Deb Palmieri

editor

Parkland Press

Northwestern Press