MACON, Ga. — First responders are there for us in some of our worst times. They see things that for many of us live only in our nightmares.
“I’ve seen children murdered, wives murdered, sons kill their dads, neighbors kill every kind of way you can think about… I’ve seen it,” said Capt. Jimmy Barbee.
He has a picture in his house with his old squad from when he first got his start in the police department. The young man in the back row couldn’t have known that a 45-year career as an officer would take its toll.
“It costs a lot. Not money-wise, but yes… I still think about some of the cases,” he said. “I mean, when your kids are young – I missed nine Christmases in a row.”
Now at the age of 65, Barbee has escaped to the calm waters of Lake Sinclair. He likes to fish, but it wasn’t really his passion.
In a building practically as big as his house, the man who served with the Macon Police Department is still working out the demons from a career as a homicide detective.
“Sometimes you'd have to run things through your mind as to why somebody would do something like that, and I never found that answer,” said Barbee.
There aren’t any clues to the mystery of why, as humans, we can do the unthinkable to one another, but working with wood and tools give him solace. He started woodworking when he was still on the force.
“It would take my mind off of what was going on,” he said.
He started off small and built his way up, making a shelf for his wife Brenda and molding wood into a table for a friend. He figures he’s crafted well over 100 pieces in all.
His newest project hits close to home; plaques made with care for the folks who serve and protect.
“Sometimes I might give away a little more than I should, but I do it anyway,” said Barbee.
Brenda understands.
“He would give away everything if I let him,” she said.
Sometimes the measure of a man – no matter how much evil he’s seen in his life – is the ability to make an object that’s meaningful or give a gift that brings joy.
“It's just how God made him to be able to absorb that and turn it into something good,” said Brenda.
“I used to tell everybody I was lucky. I’m not lucky at all, I’m a very blessed man,” said Barbee.
It’s a case of a grateful detective who has seen the worst and rebounded from a life of wearing the badge.
He says he’s only had two jobs in his life. He’s a Vietnam veteran who served in the Army. He went straight into the police department after getting back.