Genie Out of the Bottle

No matter what metaphor you choose; Genie out of the bottle, Can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, You can’t unsay what you said…it’s all the same.

Once you choose violence, you can’t take it back.

I’m asking everyone who is asking for, or worse demanding, violence as a response to the SCOTUS decision last week…please don’t. Violence is not a trivial thing. It also rarely turns out the way people think it will. Most of the people who are speaking about violence don’t really know violence.

When I say people don’t know violence, I mean they haven’t seen it or felt it on a personal level. Violence, when it becomes personal, changes you. Honestly, it doesn’t matter if you’re the one doling it out or if you are on the receiving end, it still changes who you are. You can’t take that back. Once it happens to you, or by your hand, you cannot undo that. You cannot undo what you did or what you saw or what happened to you.

The illegal entry into the Capitol Building on January 6th could have been much, much worse. Had those officers NOT showed as much restraint as they had, the number of casualties and fatalities could have been much higher. But, for the family of Ms. Babbitt it can’t be much worse. For the officer that did fire his service weapon, I can promise that it can’t get much worse for him as a person.

Unless you are personally prepared to have that type of violence impact you, then please stop asking for it. It could be your family that loses a loved one. It could be you that is killed or severely injured. It could be you that kills or injures someone else. Or it could be your kids. Or your friends. Or your loved ones. And while the violence may not impact you directly, it will damn sure effect someone else. That may not weigh on your conscience, but it probably should.

I am not a total hypocrite. I spent my adult life doing a job that centered around violence. I even have a t-shirt that says “Sometimes violence is the answer”. Sometimes it is. But if this is the answer you seek, if violence is the path you choose, you better damn well know and understand the consequences.

Because once you choose it, you can’t take it back.