Sambo: "They need balls" well not really we are the only ones on the field not allowed to play with them. lol.
Everyone can learn the laws and local rules. Expereince gives a helping hand with judgement and if you have played it certainly makes the task easier. You have the best seat in the house and watching a great bowler let go the perfect leg cutter, watch it hit the deck and cut a little and the batsman plays, gets an edge and is caught in the slips cordon is a wonderful expereince just as watching a great batsman demolish an attack with wonderful shots is awesome to watch and as an umpire you are there in the middle of everything.
Talk to your local association about becoming an umpire. As for players behaviour, it is only a very small minority who are idiots and the system if it needs to be applied can work those work out of being idiots. Yes we make mistakes at times but remember for us to make a mistake a player has had to made a mistake for an appeal.