Large Fierce Mammal

I personally espouse and teach what I hold to be the necessity of being as self-sufficient and savvy as one can possibly be in seeing to the welfare of you and yours. I believe in community and lending a hand in defense of those who can’t help themselves, and in knowing how to recognize evil under all its masks; but none of this make me responsible for, nor entitled to force my personal philosophy on, anyone else. I take responsibility for my own actions, and the outcome thereof, and I expect all others to do the same. Weakness, sickness, age, infirmity, or a present shortage of real world education or training do not represent Human conditions deserving of the endowment of sheephood. However, willful ignorance, in hope that whatever ails you will be cured one day when “THEY” find a solution, certainly, to my mind, is characteristic of another term I do enjoy – that being “sheeple“. ~ I’m Not a Sheepdog – I Have Sheepdogs for That (Part 2 of 2)

What do an incinerated homeless man, a missing Python, and homicidal outbursts involving weapons that occur on school premises have in common? Good question. Let’s take a look.

In the first installment of this mini-series, we looked at what has so far been revealed in the case of Harley Lawrence. The matter being before the courts as we speak, much still remains to be learned about the motives underlying what befell him on the night of his horrendous death, but it can be said with certainty that the manner of the assault that ultimately ended his life, and the statistics defining the two males arrested and charged with first degree murder in his death, match the profile of violent attacks targeting people presumed to be easy prey. Attacks with no motive of tangible personal gain. No motive of robbery, revenge to right a real or perceived wrong, a property dispute, nor contested romance. It’s weaker than us, and defenseless, so let’s torment it, make it scared, hurt it, and maybe even kill it.

But Harley Lawrence was a man living on the margins of society where reliance on 911 to get you out of a jam doesn’t apply, or even exist. That having been said though, those who rely on 911 to get them out of a jam as a lifestyle choice shouldn’t be doing it either. It doesn’t replace real world skills in the realms of trouble avoidance and conflict resolution.

When did neighbourhood cooperation by way of talking to your neighbour about a problem become a no go in favour of hiding behind drawn curtains and calling the Police? When was your local fire department ever a perfect replacement for safety precautions and fire extinguishers? Yet, many people, and sad to say most, expect “THEM” to factor into solving every problem they meet,  and are so encouraged by their protectors – sweet Jesus, even their “sheep dogs” (pause to see here and here) – to meekly await rescue no matter what. There are T-shirts marketed to Police and Fire Fighters bearing a job appropriate graphic with the caption, “I fight what you fear.” Surely they’re purchased and worn by those for whom the uniform is seen as a penis extension and a leg spreader, but it’s nevertheless symptomatic of a systemic, and societal, affliction – Do NOT, for the sake of FUCK, prepare to or actually assert yourself in an emergency. Run, hide, blow a whistle, scream, or beg for mercy; but do what you have to do to buy time for your valiant rescuers to get there. After all, you might get hurt.

Remember this from The Princess Bride?

Buttercup: “You mock my pain!”

Westley: “Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

While I certainly don’t hold that life is defined by its pain content – unless you die very young, a certain amount is inevitable – it’s been my experience that it likes to find you when you’re feeling at your safest and most comfortable. I stand on my 17 years as a Police/Fire/Medical dispatcher in stating with certainty that when it comes, seconds will count, and whatever you need from 911 – if you can dial it – will be minutes away. If you think about that, and still believe yourself to be above it all to get sweaty, dirty, and possibly bloody learning how to take responsibility for yourself, then I’m of the opinion that you don’t really deserve salvation at public expense. Ah well, lucky for you it’s not up to me, and those in charge of sheep herding don’t agree with my position.

This brings me to the strange and ongoing case of the Python that is still among the missing, somewhere inside an apartment building in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I hold it up as illustrative of just the sort of societal defect I’m talking about.

The situation first came to my attention by way of a 22 May 2014 article published by the Canadian Broadcorping Castration Canadian Broadcasting Corporation titled Snake loose in Halifax apartment called threat to babies. It was subtitled with, “Landlord tells residents in building to keep eye on pets, small children”.

The Snake in question is a non-venomous constrictor popularly known as a Ball Python, and as I’ve followed the press coverage on the fracas I’ve come to learn that it’s (simultaneously) approximately a meter in length, less than two meters in length, and less than a meter in length. For further clarification, in another CBC article posted yesterday under the headline Search for python in Halifax apartment on hold – Wildlife expert isn’t certain where snake is located, we learn that the apartment where the Snake lived has been completely dismantled in the fruitless search, but the unit has been sealed off so while it isn’t there, it’s nowhere else.

OK, I admit I digressed in a spirit of pure entertainment, so I’ll get back to my point. In the initial coverage of the issue, Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) Animal Services gave this advice:

Valerie Rodger, a manager with the city’s animal services, said they were alerted to the problem at 9:45 a.m. She said anyone who sees the snake should back off and call 311.

She described it as a small snake, but couldn’t give the size.

Back off and call 311. Run, hide, and call for help. There it is.

Now I’ll admit I have more reptile savvy than the average Bear, and if I found such a creature in my domicile it would soon find itself bundled inside a pillow case and on its way home, but I have a problem with this advice. I am not required by any moral or legal dictate to be restrained by presumptions as to the peaceful or malicious intent of anyone or anything I find to be inexplicably uninvited inside my personal space. Neither will I meekly await the arrival of someone who fights what some might prefer that I fear. I don’t reserve this attitude for errant reptiles, and I should be far from unique in this, but alas …

Turning now to one last matter, this time of more tragic proportions, let’s look at the 9 April 2014 “stabbing spree” at a Pennsylvania high school. Like all similar incidents distributed through recent history, and regardless of  the history of the assailant or the weapon used, the outcome was hugely skewed in favour of maximum damage to the intended target(s), at minimum risk to the perpetrator by the fact that most present did what they’d been programmed to do – scream and run because they had no other response in them. In this case, those few who did have it in them to take action were the reason things stopped when they did.

This may be the second part of a two part piece, but I’m far from done with the line of reasoning that spawned it. In closing for today, I’ll give the final word to fellow Full Contact Father Joe Walls. Joe hangs his professional hat at Three Rivers Eskrima Concepts, and kindly gave me his permission to quote what he posted to his personal facebook page on the day after the events at the school. Amen Joe my Friend. Amen. And my salute to you and your Men.

I have 2 sons in high school, & in light of yesterday’s knife assault at Franklin High School, I hugged my young men a little tighter last night (I say young men, coz I don’t raise “boys”, I raise men). I told them I loved them (they’ve heard those words from me everyday of their lives). And then- we trained. Empty hand vs knife, and we trained Hard & long! THIS is what we do!!