“*I killed an evil”
“I don’t feel like I killed an individual. I feel like a killed evil. That’s how I’m approaching it and that’s how I’m processing.”
This was the statement of Jack Wilson who killed the human being who opened fire on fellow congregants at a Texas church on Sunday, December 29, 2019.
It is wonderful that not more people were killed or injured. Yet, both the use of deadly force and this statement bring tears to my heart.
As a person who is a veteran of the United States Navy and who continues to work for and with veterans, I am well aware of the arguments justifying the use of deadly force against a person, a group of people or a nation which is also using deadly force or who we fear will do so. Just this past week following the killing of one United States service person the United States military used deadly force to kill at least 19 individuals and destroy property. We have a long history of using deadly force as a nation including the use of nuclear bombs to end WWII. We in the United States also have a long history of both legal, cultural and even religious sanctioned use of violence against those we decide are a physical, emotional or religious threat.
I have no idea of what led the man to open fire on the congregants in that church on Sunday. Perhaps, though no fault of his own, he had some neurological condition affecting how his brain functioned. Perhaps his parents had some condition or illness which prevented them from helping him to blossom into the person he was intended to be. Perhaps he really believed that he had been wronged and that it was moral to use deadly force to avenge what he believed was the wrong he suffered. We simply do not know.
We do know that as a society in the United States we continue to teach and model two opposing beliefs about violence. They are:
Following the terrible shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh recently the congregants declared that they would not respond to hate with hate. The leaders of the local Temple responded in kind. The Christian Church which includes the one in Texas where the shooting took place profess to use the teachings of Jesus who instructed his disciples to love one’s enemy while they condone the violence including the violence of labelling someone as “evil”
There is no question that force sometimes needs to be used to stop the violent behavior of others. Do we have non-lethal means of stopping them? Yes, we have non-lethal ways of stopping violent people. We can use those means in any situation just as is done in impatient mental health facilities. In those facilities the goal is to restrain he person with love; recognizing the person is ill and not evil.
As long as we, as a nation, are committed to justifying and modeling the use of violence to stop those with whom we disagree or who may themselves be violent we will not refine non- violent and compassionate ways to respond to violence or the perceived threat of violence.
As we begin this new year, perhaps we could share the responsibility for creating a climate in which the use of violence is encouraged and applauded when, in fact, compassionate restraint and treatment might be more effective and moral. Perhaps we could quit applauding the use of labels such as evil, criminal, enemy instead of mentally or physically ill. Perhaps we could allow ourselves to face the discomfort of knowing how fragile our own mental health is; of facing our own humanness as it is reflected in the pain and painful actions of others.
Written January 1, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
“I don’t feel like I killed an individual. I feel like a killed evil. That’s how I’m approaching it and that’s how I’m processing.”
This was the statement of Jack Wilson who killed the human being who opened fire on fellow congregants at a Texas church on Sunday, December 29, 2019.
It is wonderful that not more people were killed or injured. Yet, both the use of deadly force and this statement bring tears to my heart.
As a person who is a veteran of the United States Navy and who continues to work for and with veterans, I am well aware of the arguments justifying the use of deadly force against a person, a group of people or a nation which is also using deadly force or who we fear will do so. Just this past week following the killing of one United States service person the United States military used deadly force to kill at least 19 individuals and destroy property. We have a long history of using deadly force as a nation including the use of nuclear bombs to end WWII. We in the United States also have a long history of both legal, cultural and even religious sanctioned use of violence against those we decide are a physical, emotional or religious threat.
I have no idea of what led the man to open fire on the congregants in that church on Sunday. Perhaps, though no fault of his own, he had some neurological condition affecting how his brain functioned. Perhaps his parents had some condition or illness which prevented them from helping him to blossom into the person he was intended to be. Perhaps he really believed that he had been wronged and that it was moral to use deadly force to avenge what he believed was the wrong he suffered. We simply do not know.
We do know that as a society in the United States we continue to teach and model two opposing beliefs about violence. They are:
- It is wrong to use violence when one is unhappy with or feel threated by the behavior of another person or group of people.
- It is right to use violence to stop those we see as violent or potentially violent or whose behavior we find objectionable. Violence may be verbal, physical, or emotional.
Following the terrible shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh recently the congregants declared that they would not respond to hate with hate. The leaders of the local Temple responded in kind. The Christian Church which includes the one in Texas where the shooting took place profess to use the teachings of Jesus who instructed his disciples to love one’s enemy while they condone the violence including the violence of labelling someone as “evil”
There is no question that force sometimes needs to be used to stop the violent behavior of others. Do we have non-lethal means of stopping them? Yes, we have non-lethal ways of stopping violent people. We can use those means in any situation just as is done in impatient mental health facilities. In those facilities the goal is to restrain he person with love; recognizing the person is ill and not evil.
As long as we, as a nation, are committed to justifying and modeling the use of violence to stop those with whom we disagree or who may themselves be violent we will not refine non- violent and compassionate ways to respond to violence or the perceived threat of violence.
As we begin this new year, perhaps we could share the responsibility for creating a climate in which the use of violence is encouraged and applauded when, in fact, compassionate restraint and treatment might be more effective and moral. Perhaps we could quit applauding the use of labels such as evil, criminal, enemy instead of mentally or physically ill. Perhaps we could allow ourselves to face the discomfort of knowing how fragile our own mental health is; of facing our own humanness as it is reflected in the pain and painful actions of others.
Written January 1, 2019
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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