Every Day Homicide On the Edge of Grass and Pavement

Butterfly on the Edge of Grass and Pavement

Every day in my hometown area there are homicides. There are shootings. Multiple homicides reported from different cities in the Hampton Roads / Tidewater area. 

We don't want to spend money on inexpensive housing, education or work development so we spend money on homicide. 

We don't want to spend money on financial education, sex education, artistic education so we spend money on homicide investigation, cleanup and prisons.

I used to have some guns. I don't have any now. I always carry a knife for close quarters defence. I'd rather get up close and personal. Furthermore I'd rather not kill anyone so I will just do some very painful things until my aggressor changes his mind. To take a human life is the worst thing a human can do. Maiming an aggressor... that's the aggressor's choice.

Most humans do not realize how unique our existence is. Instead of understanding this the human mind focuses on eating, consuming, gathering and taking. We are so close to being hungry ghosts. 

It's a lot of foolishness. The people who take lives are in the worst condition of humanity. Those people are no longer living. The paradox is that in killing anything and anyone we lose our own human life. We lose choice. We create prisons of our own lives. 

I can't help but to feel shame for this. It's a great shame. Human populations are exploding with ignorant homicidal maniacs. 

I feel shame for gun manufactures. The idea behind the gun is to give killing power to anyone. The idea is that the gun gives equal footing to those with or without a lot of physical strength. Unfortunately it also gives anyone with aggressive desire an easy tool to be aggressive. Gun manufacturers make money by appealing to humans with aggressive tendencies. Gun sellers have tools to asses a person's aggressive tendencies but a record is only as good as the last assault, battery or homicide.

We can romanticize weapons all we want but they just give aggressors easy tools and the ability to find soft targets.

So who is responsible for changing all of this? Me. I can control me. I can control my behavior. I can learn how to get along with other people and other beings. I don't have to love everyone but I can understand that I love myself and I appreciate my life. My life allows me to work on my mind. That's a great privilege! 

Birth, Sickness, Old Age and Death will find everyone. It's going to happen. Humans should not be involved in the act of killing. As soon as you and I realize this we will have reached the next level of awareness. 

If anyone reading this has taken a life, human or otherwise, the only way out of that maelstrom is to stop the unskillful practice of taking life. You have the power to kill but you have the greatest power also to respect life! 

Instead of focusing on investigating homicides maybe we can focus on promoting life in all of its entirety. Not just anti-abortion that's disguised as "pro-life" but let's be Pro-Whole-Life. From the cradle to the grave let's promote whole meaningful lives of human beings and the lives of other beings we share this world with.

In the meantime you and I, dear reader, can work on ourselves. We may not be able to change others but we can change ourselves. 

It's difficult to compete with those who have religion based on a heaven or Valhalla. They kill without impunity. At least they think so. You and I, dear reader, know otherwise. When a person graduates from being told not to kill to internally understanding what killing is then a dynamic shift will occur. Otherwise it's hopeless. 

We will read or hear about more homicide tomorrow. We may even see homicide. We may be faced with it. Skillfully we will try to minimize the damage or out maneuver the aggressor. 

We also can work on our ability to show kindness. We can work on making our world a better place where life is respected in whole.