Well said. I worked through this one back in 71 during basic training. As I was considering how I could take the life of some poor VC or NVA just doing his job....it occured to me that if I allowed them to kill me, my newborn son would be minus a dad and my wife a widow. Yeah, I know. Young and dumb. I snapped out of it and became more than ready to pull a trigger. In fact, the Army had me snortin and rarin to go. I do retain a certain empathy for the bad guy and have all the understanding about how they get to that place through all the tragic neglect ect ect. Still, if they come at me to harm me...boom. No regrets. No guilt. They made a choice to harm me because they were too much a loser. I make the choice to defend myself because I am not a loser and others depend on me to be around. Too many sensitive people feel the burden of taking a life much too seriously to the point of hurting themselves through self torture. Having grown up in a tough area and having been beaten by thugs I don't have that problem now.
Just because my conscience demands I use deadly force if need be to justifiably defend myself or others from a threat - make no mistake about how I would feel if I ever again have to shoot someone. I would still feel mixed emotions including guilt afterwards. I am sure of that because I was brought up to essentially believe doing harm to others is not the right thing except for self defense. It is how most of us were raised, I think, at least in this country. Even when it is self defense and when I justifiably use deadly force that results in injury or death, you can bet I would feel some guilt or remorse or sorrow afterwards even though cognitively I would know I was 100 percent right. It is just my nature I suppose but it will not prevent me from using that force when justified.
2 comments:
Well said. I worked through this one back in 71 during basic training. As I was considering how I could take the life of some poor VC or NVA just doing his job....it occured to me that if I allowed them to kill me, my newborn son would be minus a dad and my wife a widow. Yeah, I know. Young and dumb. I snapped out of it and became more than ready to pull a trigger. In fact, the Army had me snortin and rarin to go.
I do retain a certain empathy for the bad guy and have all the understanding about how they get to that place through all the tragic neglect ect ect. Still, if they come at me to harm me...boom.
No regrets. No guilt. They made a choice to harm me because they were too much a loser. I make the choice to defend myself because I am not a loser and others depend on me to be around.
Too many sensitive people feel the burden of taking a life much too seriously to the point of hurting themselves through self torture. Having grown up in a tough area and having been beaten by thugs I don't have that problem now.
Just because my conscience demands I use deadly force if need be to justifiably defend myself or others from a threat - make no mistake about how I would feel if I ever again have to shoot someone. I would still feel mixed emotions including guilt afterwards. I am sure of that because I was brought up to essentially believe doing harm to others is not the right thing except for self defense. It is how most of us were raised, I think, at least in this country. Even when it is self defense and when I justifiably use deadly force that results in injury or death, you can bet I would feel some guilt or remorse or sorrow afterwards even though cognitively I would know I was 100 percent right. It is just my nature I suppose but it will not prevent me from using that force when justified.
all the best,
GB
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