A Different Memorial Day
One
Remembering the safari films the local pharmacist would show to various groups on Friday nights: I turn away before the shot comes. When they are gone, when in our greed we’ve killed them all, what will we kill next? What happens when we come to us, alone but for livestock and pets?
Two
How does any parent, even in anger at their partner, accidentally beat a four-year old girl to death? How does anyone dump that body, entombed by a black garbage bag, in a rural roadside ditch?
Three
If you don’t take your own life before the police bring you down, please tell me how the eight people you just shot caused you to lose your job, your house, your spouse and children, a bet, a fight, your temper, your humanity.
Four
Argue as you will the merits of war. Of self-defense. Of a hierarchy of evil. Tell me of blind rage and insanity. I’ll grant you every foolish reason, just to clear the smoke from the field.
Now, stick to the question: In our daily lives, how do we come to this?