Fear Not

I am sad and troubled today. I am sad because so many seems shocked by the murder of the young lady just a few short miles from where I live. Why would you be shocked? Evil does exist in our world. We know that, right?

I know its easy to ignore the fact that evil really does exist and walks among us, because (thankfully) we encounter it so rarely.

Almost every time something like this occurs we are reminded... and we are alarmed. I begin to see posts advocating the use of pepper spray, or worse, wasp spray. I see post about putting your keys beside your bed so you can hit the panic button and scare away the bad guy. And that makes me sad too beause those folks have no clue what violence looks like or how ill prepared they are to meet it.

I'm sad too because I've had people accuse me of promoting fear because I want people to be truly able to defend themseleves against a violent attacker. They tell me that such things are far to "negative" to dwell on.

What they fail to see is that it is quite the opposite. The more prepared you are to confront a violent attacker, the less afraid you are. You have a confidence that you have a fighting chance because you invested some time and money into doing what you can to prepare yourself to protect those you love.

I've even had people respond to me by being a little bit afraid of me. They don't say so, but I do sense it. And t hat is sad too because I'm the least likely perosn to cause them harm. I am simply a reminder to them that evil exists - and they don't want to think about that.

And I have had peope tell me that they are going to rely on me to protect them because they belive that I will. Honestly, I find that sad too ... and incredibly selfish that they would ask me to put my own life at risk to save them becuase they will not take responsibility for their own safety. What if I am killed trying to protect them. Are they ok with that? Really? What if I am not killed but injuired. I'm going to be out medical bills to recover. Have they considered that? Do they realize that even if I do respond and even if I do prevail that I will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in court costs? Do they know their attaker can sue me in civil court for my actions even if those actions were found to be completely justified? I may lose my home and all that I own. Why would I do that for someone who will not do what they need to do for themselves?

I'm reminded of C.S. Lewis when he was told that fairy tales are too scary for children because they induce fear. People want to shield children from the reality of evil in the world. But kids know that evil exists. Lewis responded, “Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. . . Let there be wicked kings and beheadings, battles and dungeons, giants and dragons, and let villains be soundly killed at the end of the book”

If C.S. Lewis thought children should be equipped to deal with the subject of evil, why would we as adults continue to pretend it does not exist? Why would we not prepare to meet it should it ever visit us? And why on earth would we condemn those who try to help us be prepared?