Throwback Thursday

Meditations on Deadly Force

Image via Sarah Clithero

Deadly Force -- the taking of a life -- is one of the most profound actions one human being can undertake; not only for the recipient, but for the person who wielded it.

To use Deadly Force against another -- to kill some mother's son -- is to take away everything that person was, everything he is, and everything he could be.

Once deployed, Deadly Force can not be called back, there are no 'Do Overs' and no matter how hard one might wish it, a killing can never be reversed.

I have a very poetic soliloquy concerning loss of innocence, predawn ghosts, and how dark tiny little blots on your conscience can be, but that is for another time.

Today, I want to ask if you -- as an adult -- have sat down and truly pondered Deadly Force? Have you, as an adult, made the conscious choice to decide when, where, and under what circumstances you will use Deadly Force, and when you will not?

And more importantly, as an adult, have you drawn a firm, bright line between I will and I will not?

I ask this because there are people -- purportedly adults -- who have stated to me that they do not know under what circumstances they would attempt to take the life of another, and that they don't wish to think about such things until the moment that it becomes necessary.

This is complete, total, and utter bushwa.

Make your decision now. If the time comes, trust me, a violent face-to-face social negotiation with a critter is neither the time, nor the place for an inner debate vis a vis morality and philosophy.

Get the debate done now, so that it will be one less thing to worry about when the time comes.

Would you kill a man for trying to kill you? For trying to injure you?

Would you kill some mothers son if he attempted to kill your children? If he was attempting to kill a stranger?

Would you shoot someone for stealing your car? Your house? Your 79-cent garden gnome?

Where do you draw the line? Decide now.

And I say this thing to everyone, not just those who have taken classes in the use of firearms, knives, fists and feet.

Would you drive your SUV over a critter who was attempting to kidnap your child? Would you push a critter attempting to rape you down a flight of stairs?

On Monday morning, should you come face-to-face with a critter attempting to take hostages at your local school, would you -- could you -- beat his sociopathic arse to death with a computer power strip?

Everyone should know -- right now -- where their bright line is drawn.

It is one of the obligations and responsibilities that come with being an adult.

Ian