What would you kill for? Could you kill someone? Weird, but this discussion has come up several times lately in my life, once at a party on a Sunday afternoon, and once at a dinner. I am not taking on the Second Amendment question. I do think a 'well regulated militia" has the right to arms. The guns used to be kept in armories. Probably a good place for them, certainly better than the glove compartment or the back window of a pick up truck. (I do live in Oregon some of the time) I carry the idea that, for the most part, guns are for the cowards. Anyone can talk tough if they have a gun and the other person doesn't.
That being said, why would you have a gun if you weren't going to use it? I know there are many ways to kill people, that in the Rwandan genocide mostly machetes were used to kill millions. Hitler used gas chambers. But the question my friends were pondering was whether we could kill if the stakes were high enough. If someone broke into your house to steal a $200 TV, would you shoot them? Some would. I have a sister who claims that she would do anything to protect her stuff. She also thinks teachers should carry guns to protect themselves. I think that is absurd. But on that logic, would you kill someone if they were stealing a $70,000 car? To me that question is the same issue as a toaster oven, just different numbers.
Would you kill someone if they were threatening your child? Would you kill someone if they were threatening a homeless bum? Same thing I guess. All men are created equal in the eyes of our government and the good gods. I don't think I could.
I decided that there are things I would die for, but I don't think I could kill. In the conversation it was pointed out that we really don't know what we would do in extreme volatile situations. I have been in a few. Once in El Salvador and I found myself going deeply calm and feeling confident that I wouldn't be shot when confronted with a gun aimed at me. I found the whatever to look into the eyes of the young soldier and he backed off. I am glad I didn't panic or act aggressive because I think it could have gone differently.
Then I realized that I do kill living things. I really don't like mosquitoes and they love me. I kill them. I also have put out poison for rats. Mea culpa. I am no Mahatma Gandhi. I feel the need to practice non-violence in my thoughts and actions so that if need be, I could have the inner training to be strong in my beliefs when I am put to the test.
I do have a choleric temperament. And I can get really pissed off when my blood sugar drops, so there is always work to be done. How about you? Violence or non-violence? Guns or no guns? What would you kill for? What would you die for?
My cat brought a squirrel home proudly prancing in with this poor dead squirrel and deposited it in the driveway. Mamadou saw him bring it around I just saw the dead squirrel and said "OH!" with a whine for sadness. I was rushing on a Friday morning, getting my son off to school, giving the dog another flea bath before work, (a battle that has been all summer getting rid of.) I HAD asked Mamadou to please put the squirrel in a shoebox I had brought outside. I could not bear to pick up the dead squirrel and dispose of it. It was so depressing. The sweetest cat in the world Jase who has no aggressive impulses toward humans. He has never scratched or bit like my other Rosey used to, just claw you or grab your hand with her teeth while you were giving her a nice patting.
ReplyDeleteLow and behold came home from work and there lay in the driveway still the dead squirrel. I was angry at Mamadou for not getting rid of it. There sat another squirrel on the arm of a chair. I imagined she was the mate of the other squirrel, really pissed off and dismayed that her beloved was lying there dead. The squirrel was deflated since the morning, flys had begun to buzz and circle and land. The squirrel was jumping to the ground, kind of bouncing around from the chair to the ground back and forth. I imagined the squirrel was giving me the wtf about why her husband was dead and wanted to attack me. She eventually jumped to the tree and went on her way. Shit! Mamadou had gone to NH for the weekend , the adrenaline was already coursing through my body knowing I had to put the body in a box. I touched it with a long painters mixing stick. It seemed so big it wasnt going to just be a clean sweep like a little mouse. I had to get a shovel. I was freaking out. Swearing and shaking picking it up and pushing it into the shoebox.
I had these thoughts about what if it was a human , somebody I loved being the victim of a thoughtless killing. How do we as humans just kill another. having seen the news on the internet about the ambassador being killed and whether they were parading his body in the street like they did when Khadafi was killed and the horrible things they did to him and published the video on the internet.
How are we as humans so heartless. Why does a video cause people to attack and murder innocent people. I am a member of a Facebook group that is supposed to be for liberals. There has been so much condemnation against Muslims and Islam since the events of the people, the angry mob storming the castle. I have been defending the people and the religion, knowing many Muslims, having been to Senegal and know first hand how kind and gentle a people they are. I asked Mamadou why and how these countries are acting this way, and that isnt the Islam that I know. His only answer is people are stupid, over and over again.
I say I couldnt kill, but I've put more than one lobster in a pot. I have always hated it and have said I wont do it anymore. I eat meat sometimes. And yet I think I wouldnt kill. Hypocritical? Yes totally. Somehow food is different, fleas are different , mousetraps are different. And I have been enraged and repeated the words my mother used to say when she was crazy mad, "I'm going to kill you" Well it didnt mean she was really going to kill me for dropping the jar of sweet pickles on the floor, after an all day cleaning venture.
I hate cleaning too and want to do harm to my son and husband because they are such slobs. I dream of moving out, living in a beautiful big one room studio with big canvases. All I will do is paint and sleep and take walk with my dog who is flealess. I have no answers. I always believe in conspiracey theories. I think there is a behind the scenes cause for these things that is inflamed by other forces to get their ways. And what do we do about it? What do we say? Istill have to kill the fleas.