Violence works a heck of a lot more than you seem to think it does. I seldom see it escalate. Usually a strong violent rebuttal to violence ends it. What the US does is a tit for tat violence. That is really bad. Someone kills 10 people needlessly. The US kills 10 back. That’s dumb. You want to win. Not ‘get back at them’. I was a little…
Violence works a heck of a lot more than you seem to think it does. I seldom see it escalate. Usually a strong violent rebuttal to violence ends it. What the US does is a tit for tat violence. That is really bad. Someone kills 10 people needlessly. The US kills 10 back. That’s dumb. You want to win. Not ‘get back at them’. I was a little guy in a very tough neighbourhood. 80 pounds in Grade 8. A bully was harassing me for months at lunch. He was two years older than me and normal size for his age. He would grab my milk carton and poke four or five holes in it with his pencil. My milk would stream out from each hole. I would get milky and have to cover the holes with my fingers and gulp it down. He would laugh and insult me. I had had enough so he did it one day and I poured it all over him. From across a lunch room table. He was going to fight me so I ran around the table and fought him. Before I could lose too badly it was broken up by teachers. The after school fighting arena was the church yard nearby. Every day the church yard would be where the days scraps were settled. ‘After school, William. At the church.’ He outweighed me by probably 50 pounds. A totally unfair fight. Everyone said I should not go. It was not a fair fight. I knew it would not end until I fought him. I did okay. Not a win, but close enough my friends were saying I beat him. Which wasn’t true. I remember saying ‘if that is a win I am sure glad I didn’t lose’. Did that end everything? Probably not. But a buddy of mine, one of the tough guys in the area, Golden Gloves champ, who had tried to talk me out of fighting but who had respected my decision said ‘okay. Well done. I am proud of you. Now it’s my turn’. My bully said ‘I don’t have a problem with you Terry.’ Terry said ‘yeah but I have one with you’. And beat him real bad. And the guy never bugged me ever again. Ever.
Violence works a heck of a lot more than you seem to think it does. I seldom see it escalate. Usually a strong violent rebuttal to violence ends it. What the US does is a tit for tat violence. That is really bad. Someone kills 10 people needlessly. The US kills 10 back. That’s dumb. You want to win. Not ‘get back at them’. I was a little guy in a very tough neighbourhood. 80 pounds in Grade 8. A bully was harassing me for months at lunch. He was two years older than me and normal size for his age. He would grab my milk carton and poke four or five holes in it with his pencil. My milk would stream out from each hole. I would get milky and have to cover the holes with my fingers and gulp it down. He would laugh and insult me. I had had enough so he did it one day and I poured it all over him. From across a lunch room table. He was going to fight me so I ran around the table and fought him. Before I could lose too badly it was broken up by teachers. The after school fighting arena was the church yard nearby. Every day the church yard would be where the days scraps were settled. ‘After school, William. At the church.’ He outweighed me by probably 50 pounds. A totally unfair fight. Everyone said I should not go. It was not a fair fight. I knew it would not end until I fought him. I did okay. Not a win, but close enough my friends were saying I beat him. Which wasn’t true. I remember saying ‘if that is a win I am sure glad I didn’t lose’. Did that end everything? Probably not. But a buddy of mine, one of the tough guys in the area, Golden Gloves champ, who had tried to talk me out of fighting but who had respected my decision said ‘okay. Well done. I am proud of you. Now it’s my turn’. My bully said ‘I don’t have a problem with you Terry.’ Terry said ‘yeah but I have one with you’. And beat him real bad. And the guy never bugged me ever again. Ever.