Sunday, November 11, 2018

ON CARRYING A GUN

I used to carry but it was in its holster by my side and for use on the enemy should he come calling and outside these United States of America.

I never carried at home in these United States and perhaps my reasons were selfish. I did not ever want to be the subject of a law suit and just about every use of a gun that leaves a living corpse ends in a lawsuit.

People I know carry and I have no problems with that. What I figured to do was to avoid going to those places that made carry a practical and necessary form of dress. I just don't go to any place that I think will feature armed killers. This is somewhat harder to do now that schools, colleges and theaters are such places.

I am also, now, 29 years older than I ever thought I would be. I have, by and large, done what I came to do and if the exit is shown via a gun wielded by an enemy, that's not really anything new for me. I so don't want to lose my mind and slip into dementia and senility. I watch in quiet despair as the smartest man I ever knew slips away moment by moment. He was the smartest man I ever knew and taught quantum physics at West Point in a gap year after getting his Masters Degree and building a nuclear reactor in a swimming pool as a break from fighting the war in Vietnam.

OTGH, I almost always carry a locking blade knife whenever I leave the house. As the reader can see, closing in for a kill in a terminal attack is still an option. Short of a shot to the head, I figure I can reach or die trying.

2 comments:

Brig said...

I'm not carrying as much as I did, but still have a worthy blade to hand.
Dementia taking it's toll is not an easy thing to watch. I am forever thankful that dad was sharp as ever even at the end.

HMS Defiant said...

It is the ones you love that hurt the most when the flowers come for Algernon. A man who could really build a nuclear weapon in his bathroom slipping away. It hurts. I think to myself, I'll just step off the planet come the moment I feel it going away. OTGH, a stroke out of nowhere could put paid to my exit strategy.

I had seen the end and nothing about it lingering on was pretty or of any interest to me.