Big eyes and even bigger breaths settled into calm and resolve as my girls looked up at their mother to confirm that she was on board with what may have seemed like their father being crazy.
I took a position in the corner of the bedroom window to monitor the situation and make sure the fight didn’t make it past the front door of our building. Below me, SWAT-style officers were clearing the alleyways. “Hands in the air!” they shouted. “On the ground slowly.”
Knowing that we had adequate cover and that terrorists are fucking pussies, I told Belisa to send the girls over to me so that I could show them what I was doing and involve them in their own safety. Power and control can’t be outsourced, and this small act would give them a sense of power and control. In a matter of moments, Belisa and I watched as our children transitioned from victims hiding in fear to heroes who would be in charge of their own futures and eventually learn to take charge of others. Exposure does that to a person; it multiplies courage, strengthens capability, and cuts the head off fear.
Once upon a time, there was some logic to sheltering the young from the evil in the world, but that only makes sense if you believe things will get better or if you’ve donned the wooly coat of a sheep and chosen to sit fat, dumb, and defenseless in hopes that the government will protect you. I’d much rather have them learn to protect themselves.
As Navy SEALs were taught in sniper school: “We don’t rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training.”
Prayers to the families of those who lost loved ones Saturday night, and God bless the brave men and women of England who picked up their guns and stopped evil in its tracks.
And to the mass murderers who’ve joined the ranks of all the other psychopathic serial killers of the past: You are vile scum who accomplish nothing but bolster our spirit to help those who are truly in need. Fuck you. We’re not going anywhere.
Featured image courtesy of Getty
Eric Davis
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