WisdomWorld » violence

It Is Always About Choice.

Wisdom — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:11:53 +0000

March 24, 1981. It was in the early morning hours, not long after midnight, and the young boy was wandering around the store looking for a warm spot. He seldomly got to see his dad, who ran the family business, and had decided to spend the night keeping his dad company while he worked the graveyard shift. He was impatient, as ten year olds are, and spent much of the night exploring the old convenience store, looking for both hiding spots and warm spots. He had found a few such places, the best of which was the unfinished attic. There was no floor, just dusty rafters filled with fluffy pink insulation, and the walls were just the plywood skin of the pitched roof, complete with roofing nails stabbing through, threatening to scalp you if you accidentally got too close. There was no door, no ladder, just a hole in the insulation at the top of a stack of grey metal shelves in the back storage room. Better yet, it was nice and toasty up there where the dry warm air from the gas furnace accumulated, making it the perfect place to give the boy a little respite from the boredom of watching his dad work, and the bitter cold that blew through the building every time the door opened. For a ten year old, it was Heaven.

A choice. No more. No less.

That’s why he had gone back to the front of the store, in search of his dad, to tell him about the little piece of Heaven he had found. He wasn’t in a hurry, though. He walked slowly, with his hands in his pockets, quietly staring at his shuffling feet, as he meandered first through the back storage rooms and then into the open store.

He was halfway to the front when he took his eyes off his feet and looked up to where his dad stood facing him behind the counter. Another man stood on the near side of the counter with his back turned to the boy. His dad was putting cash into a brown paper sack, and at first the boy didn’t understand what was happening. Then his dad gave the man the sack full of money, and the man wave a small nickle plated revolver and yelled at the boy’s dad to get on the floor and stay there.

Moments later, it seemed like hours, the boy’s dad yelled up into the attic, telling him to stay where he was. As soon as the boy had realized what was happening, he had turned around and ran, as quietly and quickly as he could, into the back storage room, climbed up the grey shelves, and into his newly discovered attic retreat.

His dad made sure it was safe and that the robber was gone, then called the police, before coming back and telling the boy that is was safe to come down out of the attic. Then, together, they called the boy’s mom. It was her birthday.

It was more than a quarter century ago that I was that ten year old little boy, scared to death, and hiding in that dusty, hot, nail lined attic. I don’t think that the trauma I faced that night had any lasting negative effect on me, but I’m sure that it has had a lot to do with many of the decisions I’ve made and how I’ve shaped myself as an adult. I don’t believe that we are shaped by our past, but I do believe that our past is the clay with which we mold our future. I just got a lot of clay to work with that night.

That experience has a lot to do with the number of surveillance cameras that I have in my stores, but it also has a lot to do with my decision to pretty much always have a sidearm with me. I have been asked several times over the years — by friends, family, employees, and other acquaintances who have, by chance, noticed the handgun that is usually concealed inside my waistband — why I carry it. Why do I think I need it? Do I think I’ll ever have to use it? Recently, one of my children asked me these questions, and it made me realize that I should really think about it, and give an honest and thorough answer.

I know what you are thinking, but you are wrong. I don’t carry a sideearm because I’m afraid. I don’t carry a sidearm because of some subconscious fear of being robbed or victimized. I don’t carry a sidearm out of fear at all. I know that would be the most obvious reason, and if it was the real reason, I would be more than justified. The fear of being victimized, especially after facing that kind of trauma, can be a powerful motivator. If being armed allayed that fear, then that would be more than enough reason for me to carry a gun. The reason I choose to be armed though, is a little more complicated than that.

On the night that Dad was robbed, the man who robbed him made a choice to become a criminal. He made the choice to put on a mask, come into the store, and point his gun at an innocent man. It was his choice to commit armed robbery and take money that didn’t belong to him. What he never realized though, was that surviving that night wasn’t his choice at all.

What the man didn’t realize was that at one point during the robbery my dad was holding his own pistol, under the counter, and in the process of pulling the trigger, when he saw me walk into the store from the back storage rooms. It was my dad who made the choice to let go of the trigger, put his gun down, and give the man the money he demanded. It was my dad who made the choice to give up his hard earned money, and to let the armed robber slip away into the night, rather than shoot and kill him in front of his ten year old son. It was my dad who made the choice to allow that man to live.

Someday, God forbid, I could be faced with a situation in which I have to make a similar choice. It is the nature of my business that puts me at a constant risk of armed robbery, and let’s face it, every family is at risk to become the target of any number of random violent crimes. If something like that ever happens, I want the choice of the outcome to be mine. If someone ever comes into one of my stores and points a gun at me, I want it to be my choice whether to take the money out of the cash register and give it to him, or send him away in a body bag. If someone ever attempts to carjack me, I want it to be my choice whether I step out of my vehicle and let the carjacker take it, or send him away in a body bag. If someone ever invades my home, I want it to be my choice whether I stay barricaded in a safe room while they take what they want, or send them away in a body bag. I want it to be my choice.

Without my sidearm, concealed discreetly in my belt, I don’t have a choice. Without my sidearm, if someone ever comes into one of my stores and points a gun at me, all I can do is hope he doesn’t care if he leaves a witness. Without my sidearm, if someone ever tries to take my car, all I can do is hope that the carjacker doesn’t put a bullet in me if I don’t get out of it fast enough. Without my sidearm, if someone ever invades my home, all I can do is hope that they don’t injure or kill my family. Without my sidearm, I don’t have a choice.

As long as I am armed, the outcome is my choice. As long as I am armed, I can give him the money out of my cash register and let him walk away, because I choose to. As long as I am armed, I can calmly step out of my vehicle and let him drive away in it, because I choose to. As long as I am armed, I can make sure my family is safe, then let him leave my home with his loot, because I choose to. As long as I am armed, I can choose.

I have surveillance cameras all over my stores because their silent presence has deterred similar events in the many years since that night. While almost every other store in town has been robbed since, ours have not. I believe that it’s because when the likely thieves come in to look around, they see all the cameras and choose to find victims elsewhere. I also use the cameras to help me take care of my stores, and protect myself from dishonest customers and employees. They are a tool that gives me a choice in how I manage my business. And like those surveillance cameras that quietly watch over my stores and give me discreet control of them, my sidearm is merely a tool that I use to make sure that I have control over my own life. It is a tool that gives me a choice. No more, no less.

What I really learned that night, so many years ago, was to not be afraid, to not live in fear. What I learned from Dad that night is that you can always be in control of your own life, no matter what, if you choose to be.

Republican HQ Managers Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs – Politics News Story – WKMG Orlando

Wisdom — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:25:57 +0000

The political hate mongering is getting worse. In addition to this there have been violent threats and attacks against Republicans, conservatives, and McCain supporters all over the country. This is what happens when you run a campaign based on class warfare. If this is what Obama supporters are willing to do during the campaign, what can we expect if he is elected. Are conservatives going to have to go to ground? Will we have to go into hiding? Lead secret lives? Is it so far fetched to envision a society not long from now where thousands of obamatons march the streets, with red arm bands sporting an “O” on them, looking for closet conservatives to beat down?

Better be stocking up on those soon to be illegal weapons!

-Wisdom

Republican HQ Managers Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs

Democrats Far More Aggressive in Seminole County, Victim Says

POSTED: 11:26 pm EDT October 22, 2008

UPDATED: 10:45 am EDT October 23, 2008

LONGWOOD, Fla. — The home of a Central Florida Republican headquarters manager was shot up and damaged over his support of Sen. John McCain, the man told police.

IMAGES: Home Shot Up

Rog Coverely said several pellets pierced his Longwood home. Coverely showed several spiderwebbed-holes in the front windows of his home.

Republican HQ Managers Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs – Politics News Story – WKMG Orlando.

The Question is WHY?

Eric — Wed, 21 Apr 1999 21:52:52 +0000

written by Eric Tune

I’m sitting looking out the window to my office. It’s an absolutely cloudless sky, with only a very slight breeze. The sun is starting to dip behind the mountains to the West. It’s a beautiful day. I can see several neighborhood children outside riding their bicycles up and down the street. It’s reasonably safe since the street is not a through street. I wonder as I watch these kids if any of them might end up so mentally degraded that they might someday contemplate doing what these 2 kids in Littleton, Colorado have done, and I just cannot fathom it.

As if it’s not enough that we are on the brink of World War 3. The horrific tragedy in Littleton, Colorado is now the talk of the nation. People are asking a myriad of questions, but all these questions can be distilled down to WHY? Why did this happen? What made these kids become so hate-filled that they would meticulously plan to murder their classmates and teachers? Many theories have already been postulated. Some say it’s because of the endless violence kids have access to through television, movies, the Internet, and computer games. These people say that this has desensitized kids to violence and death to the point where it is no longer thought of as being the horrible thing it truly is. Maybe this is true, but maybe not. There are conflicting studies pointing both to and away from these things. In my opinion, I don’t think it is the root cause at all.

I believe that the root of all the violent behavior in our kids today stems from one simple thing: Today’s media and social environment have succeeded in making parenting a near impossible job. Today, a woman can swat her out-of-control 6 year old on the butt in a supermarket and be arrested. Today, if a parent tries to tell their kid what they will or will not do, that kid can say “fine, I’ll just call the cops or Child Protective Services and tell them that you abuse me”.

What kind of crap is this? What is this “it takes a village” BS?? Because of those people who believe they should stick their noses in private family matters, we have parents who have had their parental rights as well as responsibilities taken away. I personally have seen it. I have seen it happen on two separate occasions. One kid was 8 years old, and because he didn’t want to do something his mother asked him to do, he called the police and outright LIED to them, saying his mother beat him. Naturally, the police showed up at the door, but when the pressure was on, the kid recanted his story, telling the police that he was mad at his mom for asking him to do this thing, and had been told AT HIS SCHOOL that this was what you did if you parents did do things to hurt you.

These kids are told at school that their parents cannot hurt them or they will be in trouble with the police. Well, these kids don’t see the difference between being disciplined by being spanked or grounded and being truly beaten and abused. To them it’s all the same thing. As a matter of fact, to Child Protective Services, it’s the same thing too. Luckily for this parent, the police weren’t the mindless type that you so often see in these cases, and they gave the child a stern warning against doing this sort of thing in the future. The other child is my own 14 year-old son, who did this to his mother. She wanted him to do something he did not want to do, and he threatened her about calling the police and telling them that she beat him. She called me and was at the end of her rope. I love my son dearly, but I do not have custody of him, and as much of a point of contention that it was with my ex-wife and I, she was so fed up that she was ready to ship him out to me. As much as I would love to have my son, this was not the way I wanted it to happen. After a long talk with me, my son assured both me and his mother that he would never do this again (I’m VERY old fashioned, he got the point, crystal clear.)

For whatever reason, a section of our society has taken it upon themselves to take away our rights as parents. Now, disciplining your child may result in your arrest. The kids aren’t dumb. They get a hold of this like a dog with a bone, and they use it against their parents like a club. The parents are hopeless. The kids walk all over their parents. This creates kids like these 2 deranged “Goths” that murdered so many of their classmates and teachers in Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado.

The so-called “Trench Coat Mafia” came in to existence because parents are no longer allowed to be parents.

If a kid wants to wear certain disgusting cloths, pierce there body parts, dye their hair and walk around like a wannabe vampire, they can. They CAN because parents cannot say no. Parents cannot say no because we have agencies who will take these children away from their parents for any perceived wrong doing. I have the beginnings of a possible solution to the rising and horrible tide of violence and maladjustment in our young people:

1. These agencies help to cause this, and these agencies are completely worthless. They serve no purpose. They doubly serve in the same capacity that the police have always served. These agencies will INVENT issues in order to justify their own existence. It has been proven that this has happened innumberable times. We need to get rid of them completely.

2. Someone on the news last night postulated it, and it has been done on and off around the country for many decades, but I think we need to do it now: Simply enforce students in all schools, public or private, to wear uniforms, all the way through high school. In the military, your hair is part of your uniform. All boys must wear their hair off the collar and above the ears. No dyed hair, no pierced anything. Girls cannot dye their hair, cut it into weird shapes or pierce their body parts either. This takes away the tendency for kids with vastly different interests (or lack thereof) to group into like cliques. With this, you won’t be able to tell a jock from a nerd, or a Goth from a Prep. Neither will they.

3. For those who think “oh my, how terrible, you want to take away their individuality, what about their rights?…” Etc, ad nauseam. You know something, my kid has no rights other than what I give him. That’s the way it used to be, and that’s they way it needs to be again. If parents can be held legally responsible for the acts committed by their progeny, well then the parents need to get THEIR rights back and be allowed to be parents again. My kid has not earned the rights other than what I allow him to have. As far as “stifling their individuality” so be it. This goes back to the rights thing.

4. Curfews need to make a reemergence. When I was a teenager, we had a curfew in town. If you were out past the curfew, the police could pull you over, fine you, and take you home to your parents where the real trouble would start. (Naturally some kids who worked were permitted around these curfews).

When I was a teenager, all the way up through high school, I never once heard of someone ever bringing a gun to school (I graduated in 1983). I was a jock and reasonably popular. If someone would have done it, I would have heard about it. It didn’t happen then (maybe in some inner city areas, but these are the exceptions to the rule). It was inconceivable for kids to say to their friends “hey, lets go to school and murder a bunch of people with guns and explosives”. But of course then, if I had gotten too out of line, my dad would have put his foot down, right on my neck if need be, and put an end to any such idiocy. Today, my dad could get arrested for a lot less than that.

Our kids are out of control because we have taken the control away from the parents. We need to give it back to them. Our kids need no rights other than what is deemed as acceptable by their parents. Mind you, I understand that there are people with no business being parents. This is a problem that has been around since man stood upright. We’ve been able to deal with this. There are those small percentage of kids whose parents do abuse them, and we must deal with this simultaneously as best we can. But just as we have the government taking away our rights to privacy in just about everything, we have the government taking away our rights as parents.

We as a society cannot deal with these kids today, and the only way to gain back the ground we’ve lost is to give back the power and responsibility of parenting to those it belongs to: Not the Child Protective Services, NOT “the village”, but the parents who are trying against all odds to raise their kids. Until we do, our kids will not be safe.

-Eric