The remains of the only reputable newspaper in Salt Lake City is still called The Salt Lake Tribune. The main headline on my edition from this morning reads "Millcreek man was trying to protect family, police say". http://www.sltrib.com/...
The story broke yesterday here http://www.sltrib.com/...
Two dead. Two stories of death. And, depending on how you want to read the whole thing, the real stories only captured in the Obituary Section.
When the dust all settled, the Readers Digest version is that some, pretty much obviously, scummy little mother fucker has a shotgun and tried, at 2:00 am to break into a house a couple of streets over from his place. An upper middle class neighborhood, too, by the way. Tract homes, large, near shoulder to shoulder living, etc. And, yeah, scumbo/drug addict boy was not all there because his initial play was to try to kick down the front door. Almost 100% blame to the seemingly drug addled bastard, though.
Joe average homeowner (at least locally) grabs his bedside 45 and tried to make his stand at the front door. Except that the danger had passed and the unknown door kicker has melted into the night. Joe (not his real name) then trades his 45 for some real firepower, a 357, grabs a flashlight, and goes hunting.
Well, even without me telling you, you already know that scumbo shot Joe, and Joe shot scumbo, and both passed.
I fault not in the least the family of Joe for choosing as the language in his obituary "age 47, died October 29 in Salt Lake City, Utah, a hero protecting his family". Certainly they were not going to say "sadly the "gunjuice" took him" (with "gunjuice" being the combination of adrenaline and the extra surge of rawness that happens when an untrained mind has a hand wrapped around one of the most stimulating tools/weapons that the species has been able to corrupt ourselves with).
Or, if not "gunjuice", otherwise explain how Joe ends up shot (and shooting) four neighbors away from his family, who were all perfectly safe back at their own place. Oh, and by the time he reflexively let off four rounds, Joe has already been mortally wounded, and three of the four went went places that Joe, even if he could, would not be proud to own. The level of craziness here, in at least some respects, defies all ability to logically contemplate.
And, yet, the Obit of Scumbo argues even more eloquently that our society is on a path to madness that "hardware" and "gunrights" and that whole aspect of our modern culture have clearly done nothing but to degrade both our personal, and our cultural well being. Even given the shock of loss, what kinds of people can pay highly for the "relief" of writing not one word of murder and mayhem, or even the slightest recognition of negativity in the experience. Scumbo "lived life to the fullest, fearlessly, and by the seat of his pants." Oh, and "addiction, in no way defines who he was."
The mere fact that such a mindset is no less natural, and like no less prevalent, than that which (although obviously of a more admirable nature) compelled/propelled Joe to his demise argues as eloquently for our disarming of ourselves as anything else I've ever encountered.
Take away the danger of random death, and take away the fear of needing "self protection" that so many times proves to be anything but.