SPIRITUAL QUAGMIRE

George Offerman

Over the past several days there have been some acts of violence that have stood out from the norm (whatever that means anymore). These are the two vicious attacks at McDonald’s and a stabbing of a teen at the National Zoo in front of hundreds of people. In all of these, only one elderly lady stepped forward to attempt to help the victim (the McDonald’s beating in Baltimore). In the other two incidences, people watched, ran away, hid or pretended it was not going on. It is becoming more distressing that in our society, very few are willing to get involved anymore and are not willing to inconvenience themselves, or maybe are not that concerned for their fellow man anymore.

We embrace in this society blatant slaughter of the most innocent in legalized child killing. We create more violent and bizarre movies, television series, video games, web sites and reading materials that glorify violence and then wonder why there is such a great deal of violence that seems to be getting worse with time. We even create language that apologizes to the perpetrators and blames the victim “He should have known better than to be on that side of town after dark”. We have become numb to our reality because we chosen to do so.

There were many commentaries from those who observed these atrocities, and nearly all of them reflected a shirking of any moral responsibility to intervene in the situation. Many openly lamented the fact that ‘no one did anything about it’ while not considering the absurdity that they themselves are ‘somebody’ and had the same responsibility as that ‘no one’ who did not show up. It is sad we allow the ever increasing violence in our society to go unchallenged and then have the nerve to blame inaction on ‘some one else’. This is what one would call spiritual quagmire. The inability to discern and lack of conviction to act on what we know to be right and true.

We are responsible for our behaviors and our own safety. We are also responsible and need to act when we see injustices done. Yes it is inconvenient and can be scary, but when a whole society, in general, takes a passive view of their reality, the base nature takes over, and all of the thugs, punks, sociopaths and human waste end up running the asylum. When we allow evil to flourish, we have no right to complain about our conditions and no right to expect ‘someone else’ to step in and save the day. I am not talking about lone women taking on thugs, but there ought to be enough men out there who are sick enough of this banal way of life to do something about it. It’s fair time the thugs, punks, sociopaths and human waste are very afraid to break the laws and harm innocent people.

How do we do this? By prayers and preparation. I carry pepper spray everywhere I go, and will soon have a concealed carry permit. There are personal defense courses one can take as well as joining neighborhood watches, and getting to know your neighbors. There is being vocal when injustices occur and becoming more comfortable with confronting evil and those who represent it. The most important thing is to not panic when an incident occurs, but to get into action mode and send a clear message to this scum that we will not take their ‘crap’ any more.