Things I Love About Memphis: Dysfunctional Function

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’m an errant and inconsistent blogger and for that I apologize.

But on the other hand, give me a break. I’m trying to get a job, ok? There’s only so much time I have for updating you on all my successes and/or failures. Stop being so selfish.

That said I am slightly less unemployed than I was the last time we talked, but that’s news for a later and more egotistical post. Right now, I need to tell you what I saw when I walked out of my apartment today.

I feel like the title of this post could cover most of my other posts on “Things I Love About Memphis,” but this one was particularly unexpected. I mean you know there is always a statistical chance that you will run across a Cinnamon Toast Crunch decal on an Oldsmobile with rims. While it’s surprising, it doesn’t quite qualify as shocking or all together unexpected. What happened today, however, definitely does:

(Picture courtesy of BeforetheDeluge)

Yes, that is exactly what you think it is. A Meth Lab Bust. Now before you go thinking, “This guy loves that Memphis has meth lab busts and lots of crime? What a sick and twisted individual,” let me just say that I do not relish the crime in this city. If there is a least-lovable aspect of Memphis, the crime is probably it—that or the city’s infrastructure. What I do love about Memphis is that when I walk out of my apartment building I have no idea what I’m going to see. It could be a former Olympic Gold Medalist, Paula and Raiford dressed in matching red suits, an impromptu church service in Court Square, or a drug bust.

The crime itself is, of course, deplorable—but what I think is interesting is the way that everyone deals with crime here. If you notice that picture the crowd that gathered is not huge by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I’m willing to bet it’s much smaller than any crowd that would have gathered in another city where something similar had happened. As people walked by the scene, there was a simple acceptance of what was going on. No sensationalism, no jeering, no outrage. It was either silent watching or a glance followed by a visibly gentle acceptance. While I guess an argument could be made that these are defeatist attitudes of people that have lived in a crime-submerged city for too long. I choose to see it a little differently:

Certainly familiarity plays a part in people’s attitude here. Even when I walked out of the apartment, I ignored the reflection of police lights I saw in the windows across the street. I just assumed it was a routine pullover of one of the hundreds of cops that patrol downtown everyday. But unlike other places I’ve been where familiarity breeds contempt, especially with Police, it seems like in Memphis people let well enough alone—and perhaps there’s even a tinge of respect in this attitude. Now, I know there are huge racial tensions in Memphis with the police force and within it. You don’t have to be here long to discover that. But I saw a different side today, a spirit of cooperation. Maybe it was because they were protecting the living space of a community of a very diverse group of people, or maybe like I said before it’s that in Memphis somehow familiarity has bred respect. Maybe as Memphians, we’re so inundated with the reasons we need police that we’ve developed an abiding pride in them.

I say all this because it wasn’t so much the drug bust in my building that I was surprised by, but people’s reaction to it. They just accepted it. And hey, maybe that is a bad thing most of the time, but today it let the police get done what they needed to get done and I can’t argue with that. So if you want to be a little Negative Nancy about race relations and cops in Memphis, go ahead. But you should probably stop reading my blog. And yeah, I know this is a weird thing to say that “I love” about Memphis, especially compared to the things the far more reputable I Love Memphis writes about. But in order to love a place, I think you have to develop an affection for the dysfunctional as well as the functional. So I choose to love the fact that there was a drug bust outside of my apartment today. Not because it was entertaining, but because of the spirit it was conducted with, and because Memphis is the most dysfunctionally functional place I’ve ever known (and because now there are no more meth labs in my building, which is also a big plus). So here’s to you Memphis PD and all those you protect. You’ve earned it.

*Disclaimer: I would also like to apologize to any family members that might read this and be concerned for my safety. I love where I live and I feel very safe. Nor do I have any interest in dealing drugs. I just couldn’t let this one go unwritten about, so please don’t worry.