We visited the Vancouver Police Museum today. It is a very interesting place with crime scenes to decipher, confiscated weapons and drugs on display and all sorts of items from the history of policing in Vancouver. Today they had a couple of officers who use police dogs there to talk about what that's like, and also the police dog, Justice, who was very anxious to get out of the museum and back to work "catching bad guys". We had a good visit and it has given me all sorts of things to think about. Anthony is considering the idea of becoming a police officer (I'm not enthusiastic) and he was pleased to discover that in the entire history of the Vancouver Police Force, only 16 officers have been killed in the line of duty. Of course, that doesn't include the officers who have suffered from depression and anxiety because of what they have had to do and what they have seen. A police officer I know said it is difficult to see the suffering of the people they have to deal with -- families in chaos, little kids neglected and abandoned, innocent people who are the victims of crime, hapless people who commit crimes because of mental illness and drug addiction. Sometimes the other police officers can make it difficult for you as well. Think about the officers who were responsible for the death of Robert Dziekansky at the Vancouver Airport eight years ago.
The Latin quote is from the entrance way to the morgue -- the full quote is "Let idle talk be silenced. Let laughter be banished. This is the place where death rejoices to teach those who live." It is a standard inscription in autopsy facilities throughout the Western world. It was quite amazing to see all the different organs that had been taken from dead bodies and how the person who did the autopsy figured out what had killed the dead person.
It all sounds rather ghoulish, but it is a bright lively place and the boys and I all found it really fascinating. It's not expensive ($8.00 for students) and something to think about doing over the spring break. It's on Cordova Street next to the Firehall Theatre and a couple of blocks from Chinatown, so you could go and then have a nice bite to eat afterwards and then see a show! "Chelsea Hotel" is on at the Firehall -- it is based on the music of Leonard Cohen. Coincidentally, there was a program on the radio about Leonard Cohen as we drove home from the museum. Obviously, some of his songs are terrific ("Dance Me to the End of Love" and "Hallelujah") but he doesn't have a great singing voice and the boys were both slagging him mercilessly. It's like what Neil Young said to David Foster when he said, so delicately, "I think you're a bit flat, Neil."
Neil Young looked up in a haze of whatever and said, in his characteristic nasal voice, "that's my sound, man."
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