Apex of Moronia
There has been only one time in my life that I’ve actually punched somebody out of anger. I was about 10 years old. My brother and I were playing basketball with some neighborhood kids. My brother is deaf. He also has cerebral palsy. Despite his 1000% effort, sometimes he simply couldn’t catch the ball when it was passed to him. But it was all in good fun, right? Another youngster began to harass my brother and make fun of him. I could tell my brother was hurt and confused, because he couldn’t understand the maliciousness of the situation or why it was occurring, and he left the court and went home. I didn’t hesitate. I walked right up to the perpetrator and laid a full fist right into his nose. It bled. My hand hurt and I tore up a finger. The boy cried and ran home to his mamma. I got in trouble and got grounded for a week. I never told my mother why I punched that other boy …. and so I paid the price anyway.
But it was worth it. Nobody on that court ever made fun of my brother again. That was probably one of my first lessons of taking justice into my own hands. Granted it was a simple and common boyhood skirmish, but nonetheless an important one. You protect and defend that which you love and hold dear.
Luckily, I’m a lot more mature at dealing with ignorance today, but I had a similar feeling about a week ago while discussing something with an acquaintance.
We were discussing Mr. Obama and the fiscal policies he has enabled which will bankrupt our nation. I asked him where in the Constitution does it grant power to any branch of our government to bail out private business. No answer. I further asked him, where in the Constitution is power granted to the government to provide healthcare to its citizens. No answer. I was about to ask another question, when suddenly the person blurts out, “You know what, FU#& the Constitution.”
I was taken aback. I looked at him and said, “What did you just say?”
“You heard me. FU#& the Constitution.”
I walked away before the urge to punch him came to fruition.
In the back of my mind: protect and defend that which you love and hold dear
I thought about it for awhile. I approached him later. I asked, “Do you know what the Bill of Rights is?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Which Amendment to our Constitution guarantees you the right to Freedom of Speech?”
“umm.. The fifth one?”
“No, the First one does. Which Amendment to our Constitution guarantees you the right to own firearms?”
“The third?”
“Wrong, my friend. The Second Amendment guarantees that right. Furthermore, it gives us this right because it is necessary to the security of a free State. I consider our government’s current anti-Constitutional behavior and the sheep that follow it and endorse it to be a threat to the security of this free state.”
“So?”
“So next time you feel the need to disparage a document and country that I love and hold dear, can you do me a favor and at least read that which you are criticizing?”
Walked away from dead silence in the room.
For the first time in about 25 years, I bloodied a person’s nose. But this time without throwing a punch.
In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have said anything more to the person, because people like that subscribe to the victim mentality that Obama has preyed upon since he began running for office. Many people think the world owes them and should provide undeserved vindication, and these are where the vast majority of votes came from that put this usurper into office. Offer irresponsible businesses bailouts for ignorance and offer “free” money to beggars, and I assure you it will be taken and squandered by the same irresponsible people that caused the problem in the first place.
And with 20/20 hindsight, I’m really not proud of what I did. I know fully well that I, myself, can also be verbally crushed by a person more learned than myself. (doesn’t take much more “learned” either.) But dang it, what the ……??
My question for thought, though, is this: I wonder how long it will be before Patriots out there without that kind of self-control will have their rage boil over? I’m asking, because it nearly surfaced in me today and luckily I have the ability to usually think before I act. And those were just words. Vicious, ignorant words, but a provocation, nonetheless. And I’m quite a normal person with no tendencies toward violence.
It’s kind of like the title line for the blog Ace of Spades:
Just a thought. And a word of advice. Don’t try to convince an Obama voter of the idiocies of his majesty’s policies. You’ll likely just end up talking to somebody who hasn’t the slightest notion of what the Constitution is, and who is most likely just another “victim” looking to get something for nothing.
