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The policeman stood and faced his God,

Which must always come to pass.



He hoped his shoes were shining.



Just as brightly as his brass.



"Step forward now, policeman.



How shall I deal with you?

Have you always turned the other cheek?

To My church have you been true?"

The policeman squared his shoulders and said,

"No, Lord, I guess I ain't,

Because those of us who carry badges

can't always be a saint.



I've had to work most Sundays,

and at times my talk was rough,

and sometimes I've been violent,

Because the streets are awfully tough.



But I never took a penny,

That wasn't mine to keep....

Though I worked a lot of overtime

When the bills got just too steep.



And I never passed a cry for help,

Though at times I shook with fear.



And sometimes, God forgive me,

I've wept unmanly tears.



I know I don't deserve a place

Among the people here.



They never wanted me around

Except to calm their fear.



If you've a place for me here,

Lord, It needn't be so grand.



I never expected or had too much,

But if you don't.....I'll understand.



There was silence all around the throne

Where the saints had often trod.



As the policeman waited quietly,

For the judgment of his God.



"Step forward now, policeman,

You've borne your burdens well.



Come walk a beat on Heaven's streets,

You've done your time in hell

COMMENTS

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dabbler
03:12 Oct 02 2008

* Pause .. Thank you.

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POST COMMENT

I love a good storm and i am the first to go outside splash in the puddles and watch the rain and thunder roll in across the sky.

A noreaster is headed this way and i have had such a sad week it seems more fitting to be tears from the heavens then a storm to soak the earth.

I planned on going to the shore this weekend for POLICE week. My baby brother was going to stay the weekend and i was just going to hangout and bond a bit with him since i haven't seen him much with all the overtime he has worked this summer.

Instead i think i am going to stay home and visit my neices and nephews and hug them real tight. The thoughts of them losing a dad to the city they serve and protect has been on my mind for days now.

Monday i have a funeral viewing i need to be at and i don't think i can handle the emotions of it without seeing my family, knowing they are all safe and happy.

Fallen officer is recalled as 'the best of the best'

By Michael Matza and Bonnie L. Cook



Inquirer Staff Writers



Pat McDonald was a diehard Eagles fan and an avid athlete, who at 30 still played tackle football with the guys.

When he wasn't working, he was working out, pumping iron at the in-home gym he installed in the pin-neat rowhouse he grew up in, later bought from his parents, and recently renovated.



As a boy in the tight-knit Morrell Park neighborhood near Holy Family University, he was known for parking his Big Wheel cycle absent-mindedly beneath neighbors' cars. As an adult, he parked his powerful motorcycle in the driveway and neatly covered it each night.



Public service on the city's gritty front lines was a family tradition. His dad was a firefighter; his girlfriend, a cop.



When he lost his life in the line of duty yesterday, he left stunned friends in his Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood choking on tears and asking: Why?



"He was the best of the best. Every time I'd see Pat in his uniform I'd say, 'God bless you, Pat. Be safe. . . . God bless you for watching our city and protecting it,' " said a sobbing Barbara Peahota.



Then, her voice cracking, she added, "It's important that God watches them. But sometimes I guess he can't. This has got to stop. We're losing too many good people."



Peahota, 61, said she saw McDonald almost every day when she came to babysit at her son's house two doors down from the slain officer's home.



She said her grandchildren, Nicole, 6, and Stephen, 10, were deeply affected by the death.



"The kids are crying. They loved him," she said. "A police officer. That means a lot to a kid."



Neighbor Barbara Covello said McDonald "was very proud to wear the uniform. We all felt protected with Patrick around."



Morrell Park neighbors say McDonald took over the family's three-story rowhouse in the 3600 block of Whitehall Lane from his parents, Larry and Patricia, when they moved to the Shore.



His father retired four years ago as a captain after 34 years with the Philadelphia Fire Department. He served most recently with Engine Company 12.



McDonald, a 1996 graduate of Archbishop Ryan High School, where he played football and basketball, worked for a time in the late 1990s as a Fire Department paramedic, then joined the police force in January 2000. He was assigned to the Highway Patrol division.



Colleagues remembered McDonald as serious and hardworking. He seemed to thrive on police work, even the dangerous work of getting guns off the streets, and always wore his game face.



"Pat was a stand-up guy," always ready to lend a hand, said fellow highway patrolman Tim Murphy. "He would go out of his way for anybody. But he never cracked a grin or a smile."



Officer Bryan Hilbert, who worked with McDonald on an operation in conjunction with the state police to round up illegal guns, said police brass and the public "want us to do things and get criminals off the street. Pat loved doing it."



A bachelor, McDonald lived alone. He had two siblings. His sister, Megan, was helicoptered to Philadelphia from New York yesterday. His younger brother, Michael, is deceased.



Although not physically imposing, McDonald was physically fit and played for the Philadelphia Blue Flame, a police football team, colleagues said.



An avid Eagles fan, McDonald put a TV on his deck last Sunday and invited neighbors over to watch the game against Pittsburgh.

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Not only do I have to worry each day that one of my brothers could be lost to the streets they protect but now I have to share the heartache of them losing another friend.

Rip Pat you will be missed and i will be wearing my Blue Flame jersey in memory of you.