George Strait is continuing to honor first responders all over the country with his song, “The Weight Of The Badge,” as well as the new music video.
The track is actually from his 2019, 30th studio album, Honky Tonk Time Machine, and celebrates all of our incredible first responders who put their lives on the line every day to protect their local communities, as well as all of the family members who’ve tragically lost a loved one in the line of duty.
The recently-released music video includes snippets of different first responders talking about their day-to-day jobs, as well as the sacrifices they’ve made in order to keep the towns and cities they love so much as safe as possible.
And, to go along with the video, George is featuring several different officers and firefighters as a part of his The Weight Of The Badge Spotlight Interview series, starting with Deputy Bryan Woodard, who works for the Tarrant County police department, where Fort Worth, Texas is the county seat.
Bryan had a Facebook live video go viral back in 2014 during the riots that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri, after the death of Michael Brown.
After the success of that first video, he started using social media regularly to show the world that he was one of the good guys, posting relatable (and funny) content of his daily life that proved he was a normal person just like you and me:
“Well I run a social media network called ‘The Everyday Life Of Deputy Bryan Woodard’.
And the reason for that is so the community can know that there are two sides. And with law enforcement, you have them working in their uniform, and you also have their personal life.
So I wanted to show the world that I’m just like anybody else. You can see me at work, or you can see me in my personal life, and you can follow it. And you can relate those things to your personal life, as well. It also extends to the things that I do.
People play basketball, I play basketball. Some people go to church, or go to the pool, or go to the movies, or go to the mall, I do some of those same things. And so I want everybody to see that we’re human, too.”
He says a lot of people started paying more attention to law enforcement during the rioting in Ferguson, and it was around the same time that Facebook Live was introduced on the social media platform.
Bryan was one of the very first police officers to use Facebook Live in a work setting, and the idea to use it as a tool for good came to him one day during a break:
“I was at work, I was in uniform, I was on break, and I used Facebook Live for the first time to tell people about what they were doing was wrong. When they’re destroying their own communities and fighting, not just the police, but each other, destroying businesses.
And that was my first Facebook Live video and it went viral. When people in Ferguson, Missouri, finally saw it, they stopped rioting. A lot of people stopped and were trying to figure out who I was, like, ‘Who is this police officer?’
And it just took the whole focus off of what they were doing, because nobody has ever seen a cop use social media, for telling people what they’re doing is wrong.”
Though police officers usually try to stay out of hot-button issues and political disagreements, he felt like this was the time he needed to step in and say something:
“We’re usually keeping our mouths shut, trying to stay out of trouble, you know. And back then, they weren’t used to seeing cops doing things for the community.
At my office, I thought I was gonna be in the biggest trouble, and when they found out what I had done, it was all positive feedback. Of course, you’re gonna get negative feedback, too.
But they had someone from, I guess, the head of our state, say ‘Hey, well, you know, he just put a stop to the Ferguson, Missouri riots. He put a damper on it, because people are trying to figure out who you are, and they listened to what you had to say.’
That’s how I started getting a lot of people, you know, in the network, because they weren’t used to hearing anything like that.”
Bryan says that, ultimately, he just wants to love other people and try to make the world a better place every single day, and he can do that by being a police officer:
“I love life. And I guess I just figured out a way, how to enjoy me being a police officer to other people and protecting them in a different way than what they’re used to.
You’ve heard the term before, you want to treat people how they want to be treated. Well, I treat everybody not only that way, but I treat ’em like they’re my family member, because in a way, they are.
If I care about them in the exact same way that I care about my family, then how do you think I’m gonna treat them? Just like my family.”
It’s because of amazing people like Bryan that we’re able to feel safe doing all the things we love every day, and it’s really cool to see someone with a platform like The King shine a positive spotlight on all the great work they do for us.
Check out Bryan’s full story here:
And the music video if you haven’t seen it yet:
