Gordon Graham here! If you have read my past ramblings, you know I am closing in on being “retired” for 19 years. The 33 years between 1973 and 2006 flew by – and the things that concerned me when I retired were completely different than in my early years, when the only police motorcycle in the U.S. was the Harley-Davidson!
Way back then I was worried about getting killed – either by murder or a traffic collision. I was worried about succeeding in and paying for school and buying a house and staying in shape and out of trouble – all the things that young cops go through. I certainly was not concerned about retirement or post-retirement life expectancy – to me that was so far, far away. I had immediate things I needed to work on.
In other articles, I have mentioned Dr. Tony Kern, a B-1 pilot by trade who picked up his doctorate along the way and is truly the smartest person I have ever met. Years ago, I had the opportunity to feature him in a Lexipol webinar. During the preparation for that webinar, I mentioned to him that he was the smartest person I have ever met. He smiled and humbly said, “I don’t know if that is true – but I do know I am intensely curious.”
Then and now his response resonated with me. I have never considered myself really smart, but I do know that I am and have always been very, very curious about things. The “why” question is always popping up in my head. It often drives my wife nuts when I want to drill down on something to figure out what is going on!
It is precisely this curiosity that led me to Dr. Dwight Mogee, who in turn taught me a valuable lesson about life expectancy.
The vast majority of people I arrested in my first 10 years were booked at Parker Center, formally known as the Police Administration Building (PAB), located in downtown Los Angeles at what was then the headquarters of LAPD. Protected parking was always at a premium in the booking area and on busy nights, especially Fridays and Saturdays, I had difficulty finding a parking spot for my assigned motorcycle.
So I was surprised to find that one car repeatedly occupied three parking spaces. It was a Mercedes 600 – very rare and very expensive to buy and maintain. And there it was in the PAB parking lot taking up a space, with traffic cones blocking the spaces on the left and right side. My curiosity was piqued: There is a shortage of parking and here is this luxury car taking up three spaces. Who owns this car? How does he (I had never seen a woman driving what was known among car nuts as the “dictators’ limousine”) get away with taking up three spaces?
It did not take many inquiries to learn this car was owned by one of the rotating jail doctors, Dwight Mogee. I had dealt with him many times when I was booking sick or injured arrestees. Back then I did not have a personal doctor; if I needed medicine or had a medical complaint, I (and a lot of other cops) got treatment and prescriptions from the jail doctor.
On my next contact with Dr. Mogee, I asked him about his car, complimented him on his excellent taste in automobiles, and ultimately got to the question: “How do you get three parking spaces?” He was very direct in his response. “Wherever I work as a doctor the first item on my contract is about three parking spaces so my Pullman (a term used to describe the 600) does not get damaged by cars parking alongside.” Dr. Mogee told me he worked at several hospitals and did consulting for Fortune 500 companies. Well of course I had to know what type of consulting. He told me he did a lot of work in predicting life expectancy for candidates for CEO positions at major corporations.
Let’s say the board of directors at a major corporation is looking for a chief executive officer. This is a very expensive process with a lot of financial moving parts. If the person they select dies soon after appointment, all that money is essentially lost. So, these boards would hire Dr. Mogee to examine the candidate and predict how long that person would live. When I asked Dr. Mogee if he was any good at it, he responded, “I am deadly accurate” (in addition to good taste in cars, he also had a good sense of humor). That led to a discussion on determination of life expectancy – a topic Dr. Mogee and I returned to regularly while he was taking care of my arrestees and filling out paperwork.
Many years later I read the book Blue Zones by Dan Buettner (you should read it). The book talks about several regions around the world where people regularly live past 100 years and the reasons for their extended life span. This led me to other sources on this topic, including my personal physician for the last 20 years, Dr. David Bloom, and I learned quite a bit.
Here is my interpretation of the factors contributing to life expectancy: DNA is very powerful and has a lot to do with lifespan. You and I have no control over the DNA side of things – we are stuck with that at birth.
If you want to live a long time – and not just length of life but quality of life – understand and take these “10 Fs” seriously.
But there are a lot of things we can do to maximize length of life within the DNA parameters. As I read study after study and book after book, I saw a pattern developing. Out of all this I came up with what I call the “10 Fs.” If you want to live a long time – and not just length of life but quality of life – understand and take these “10 Fs” seriously. I have an hour-long presentation on this topic, but here they are without any in-depth explanation – just a quick overview. And here’s a heads-up: There is a reason the last of the “Fs” holds that position.
- Faith: Believe in a higher power.
- Family: Take care of your family – always.
- Friends: You don’t need a crowd, but having two or three great friends who will always watch out for you is very important.
- Fitness: Keep yourself in shape – just walking an hour a day is wonderful. Get regular medical checkups, even if you are feeling great. And remember to take care of your mental health, too.
- Food: Everything in moderation. As a general rule, if your grandmother would not recognize it, don’t eat it.
- Fun: Laugh a lot. There are a lot of benefits to being happy and laughing a lot.
- Funds: Think about financial planning early on and try to retire debt-free.
- Freedom: Be grateful you are here in the United States of America. Protect the freedoms that so many have died for over the centuries.
- Future: Time flies by quickly – strategic thinking is essential.
- Fulfillment: Make every day count. Make every contact count. Be humble – it is not all about you. You get the opportunity every day to make a difference in someone’s life. Simultaneously, you are “building your dash.” Take a look at the poem of that name by Linda Ellison.
As you know I am very careful about my word count for these articles, primarily because Madame Editor is concerned that a smart reader may take a look at the length and conclude that it is not worth their time. But let’s spend a little more time on this last “F” – fulfillment.
Prior to getting married I dated – not a lot, but some – and one woman I dated for about six months was a beautiful executive for a major toy company. She was funny as heck and fun to be with, but our relationship ended not long after a conversation about our jobs: “Gordon, you know what really bothers me about you is that you love your job. Every time we get together you are talking about what you did during your day – what you and Bruce did, what you and Mike did, what you, Bruce and Mike did – and you drive me nuts with how much you love your job.”
My response was short and frank. “I’ve got the best job in the world. I am a Highway Patrol motorcycle cop!” Well, she said, “I hate my job. I hate the people I work for, I hate the people I work with. I hate my job but the money is excellent!” That surprised me then, and it still does today. I have never had a job I hated – whether it was my cop days, my lawyer days, my consultant days, my speaking days – I really love what I do.
You are public safety professionals – and I hope you love your job. I am very aware of the problems today – assaults on our personnel, negativity within agencies, repeated exposure to trauma and suffering. I know about these serious issues. But you need to know this – every day you work, you have an opportunity to make a positive change in someone’s life. It might be saving a baby, arresting a serial rapist, shutting down terrorist activity or simply helping someone who needs help. There are a lot of people who work for the money. While money is important, being able to make a positive difference in someone’s life is a big deal.
Above, I referenced the poem “The Dash” by Linda Ellison. Go to any cemetery in America and on the headstone or grave marker is the date of birth and the date of death. And in between these dates is “the dash.” That little mark represents what you did during your time on earth.
What is your “dash” going to be in the eyes of others? As a law enforcement officer, corrections officer, firefighter, EMT/paramedic, or dispatcher, your actions benefit the people you serve and society. Every day you are making a difference. And those actions are also “building your dash.” If you focus on that – and the 10 Fs – the challenges of this career are far outweighed by the rewards.
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