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Tears for our society

Those who know me well know I don’t cry easily. I’m generally pretty stoic, and with a few exceptions, I tend to get enraged rather than weepy. Lately it’s been a different story, however. This year has been a difficult one in many ways, and I’ve found myself moved, touched, enraged, teary eyed, and downright hysterical crying at times. There’s a lot going on, both in my personal life and in the world around me, in general, and I seem to be getting a lot more emotional in my old age…

So I cried recently at the vicious stabbing death of Kevin Sutherland earlier this month. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the incident, the 26-year-old man was on a metro train on Independence Day when an 18-year-old savage attacked him for his cell phone. Jasper Spires repeatedly punched, kicked, and stabbed Sutherland and left the former Congressional intern bleeding on the train floor as other passengers watched.

I didn’t just cry because this tragic incident ended a promising young life.

I didn’t just cry because as someone who lives in Northern Virginia, I consider Washington, DC very much my city.

I didn’t just cry, because as a Virginian I enjoy my right to carry my tool of self defense, both openly and concealed with no impediments.

I didn’t just cry because, the moment I step on the Metro and make my way to my Washington, DC, that respect for my rights no longer exists.

No, all of this is tragic, but nothing new.

What I did cry about was the disintegration of our society exemplified in this  tragedy. This is what I find most tragic. This is what has kept me up at night as I thought about what I would have done had I been on that train on Independence Day.

As a veteran, I have a certain attitude – a certain mindset, if you will. I joined the military after college graduation rather than getting that high-paying job at a brokerage I was considering, because I felt I wanted to serve the nation that gave me so many opportunities I would have never had as a citizen of the former USSR. I wanted to protect America’s people and America’s Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I certainly didn’t do it for the paltry pay and the time away from my family. I took my oath with that goal in mind, and I took it seriously.

That attitude drives my thoughts about that day. Would I have intervened? Would I have attacked the thug and beat him to within an inch of his life? Would I have saved Sutherland’s life? I certainly want to believe I would not have sat idly by and done nothing. I carry my firearm with the sincerest hope that I never have to draw it, but with the practiced attitude that should I have to, I would not hesitate to save a life. I like to think that attitude would carry over even when I am unarmed in a metro car. I’m not a weak, small person. I have no doubt I would have been injured, but I’m pretty damn sure I would have stopped that savage punk one way or another. Or at least tried my best…spores

But no one did anything. They all sat there and cowered. They all watched, and did nothing to help this guy, who got savaged because this barbarian punk wanted his cell phone. They stood by and did nothing.

Police consistently advise bystanders not to intervene.

Call the police, they say.

Do not confront the violent savages, they say.

Translation: let the victim die! Rely on us! We’ll protect you.

My aching arse.

And you know what? Most of these sheep do exactly that. From the tragic Kitty Genovese murder in 1964, to the attack on Marianne Seregi in which only one small woman had the courage to yell at the attackers (who were unarmed, by the way), to this current travesty…

…they did nothing.

Don’t tell me it’s some kind of psychological effect. I don’t want to hear excuses. This is simply a shift away from personal responsibility. It’s a shift away from courage, from humanity, from self-reliance.

And that’s what’s really tragic about the murder of Kevin Sutherland, other than the obvious loss of a young life! It is an overall societal abdication of every shred of self-reliance and accountability.

I weep for the kids who are taught from a young age not to stand up to bullies, but tell a teacher instead, even as they cower while the larger kid pummels them.

I weep for the children who are told they must wait for a nice policeman to arrive and protect them, rather than do their damnedest to defend themselves.

I weep for the cowards who are too afraid to stand up for themselves and for others, choosing instead to record brutal attacks with their damn smart phones while they wait for the police to arrive!

I weep for a society that reacts to brutal attacks on defenseless individuals by calling for government force to make them even more defenseless and vulnerable to armed thugs!

I weep for the pusillanimous weaklings who accept the message that they must rely on anyone else – be it big government, police, or anyone other than themselves who chooses to be armed and to take responsibility for their own safety and for the safety of those around them – to protect them.

It’s not any kind of psychological effect. It’s decades of indoctrination into the idea that you must rely on others for everything from putting food in your mouth and providing for you, to your very life.

It’s laziness.

It’s the unwillingness to be responsible for your own survival.

It’s the perception that everyone else is responsible for everyone else – their brother’s keeper – it takes a village.

It is this parasitic inability to fend for oneself that’s killing our society.

Someone else will protect me.

Someone will ensure I don’t starve.

There’s got to be someone who will intervene.

I’ll leave it to other people to carry a gun and to train with it. I’m afraid of guns. I’ll let others stand up.

Well, guess what, parasites! When you mewl to have the rest of us just as disarmed and defenseless as you are, there will be no one left to intercede on your behalf when a violent degenerate, who takes a large, steaming dump on the laws that you assiduously abide by and so stupidly insist others will obey, boards a metro train and stabs you to death while everyone watches in horror, because there’s no one around with the intestinal fortitude to help you!

You insist on disarming our military members while stateside, and they get slaughtered by frothing fundamentalist Islamic zealots. Just like they did at Fort Hood. Just like they did yesterday.

And then you will squeal and blame large-capacity magazines, the NRA, “gun fetishists,” and “loopholes” for the fact that this society has descended into a whining, spineless, triggering, social justice warrior-ruled swamp of hurt feelings and demands that someone, ANYONE but you, do something!

RIP, Kevin Sutherland.

RIP, GySgt Thomas J. Sullivan.

RIP, LCpl Skip Wells.

RIP, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt.

RIP, Sgt. Carson Holmquist.

RIP, Petty Officer Randall Smith.

Your government failed you by disarming you, but your society failed you worse – by both demanding that your government disarm you and failing to act on your behalf after the government leeches made you vulnerable at their behest.

And if you’re not weeping for the demise of courage, honor, integrity, and strength in our society, you’re not paying attention.

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