Originally posted by ThisLadyHunts
View Post
Your comment makes me think of the time my husband and I took our CHL class back in the day. The instructor took an informal pole of the class by saying, "Raise your hand if you would shoot someone who was trying to steal from you?" My husband and I were the only two who raised our hands.
The instructor went on to say (very diplomatically) that material possessions were not worth the cost of a human life, etc., etc. I sat there and listened to him--getting angrier by the minute--until he was finished. Then I raised my hand...
(My husband hates it when I raise my hand.)
I was offended, both morally and intellectually, that someone would stand there and tell me that the life of a morally bankrupt human, a leach upon society, a perpetrator of evil and wrong doing, should be more value to me than my material possessions...my things...my stuff!
No, I did not say this out loud. Rather, I politely disagreed and told him that not all life has the same value, that those who perpetrate and perpetuate evil, in fact, are the cause of human moral decay in our society. And not only that, my possessions...my stuff...may not be valuable to anybody else, but they are mine, and they're valuable to me!
My possessions, while they may not be inherently valuable, represent many things to me. They represent the hard work and sacrifices I may have made to obtain them, they are the keepers of memories I and my family made around them, and those that have been in my family for generations are a very important link to my past, whether they're inherently valuable or not (and most of them are not).
So, no. The life of a thief is not and will never be more valuable to me than my things are, and I resent being told by a society that is willing to look the other way in the face of wrong doing that I am wrong--perhaps even a little evil myself--for feeling this way. Only after prying it "out of my cold, dead hands..."
The instructor went on to say (very diplomatically) that material possessions were not worth the cost of a human life, etc., etc. I sat there and listened to him--getting angrier by the minute--until he was finished. Then I raised my hand...
(My husband hates it when I raise my hand.)
I was offended, both morally and intellectually, that someone would stand there and tell me that the life of a morally bankrupt human, a leach upon society, a perpetrator of evil and wrong doing, should be more value to me than my material possessions...my things...my stuff!
No, I did not say this out loud. Rather, I politely disagreed and told him that not all life has the same value, that those who perpetrate and perpetuate evil, in fact, are the cause of human moral decay in our society. And not only that, my possessions...my stuff...may not be valuable to anybody else, but they are mine, and they're valuable to me!
My possessions, while they may not be inherently valuable, represent many things to me. They represent the hard work and sacrifices I may have made to obtain them, they are the keepers of memories I and my family made around them, and those that have been in my family for generations are a very important link to my past, whether they're inherently valuable or not (and most of them are not).
So, no. The life of a thief is not and will never be more valuable to me than my things are, and I resent being told by a society that is willing to look the other way in the face of wrong doing that I am wrong--perhaps even a little evil myself--for feeling this way. Only after prying it "out of my cold, dead hands..."
Comment