I was reading a news article about a lawyer in South Carolina. It was on the news and then appeared on my newsfeed on Facebook. So I read the article about this lawyer who had found his wife and two of his children shot to death. That was earlier this month. He knows nothing about what happened to them, he has no involvement with that. The police do not have him listed as a suspect. But now this same lawyer hired a hit man to shoot him so that his remaining son would inherit a ten million dollar life insurance policy. The guy he hired he had defended a few years back in traffic court. So, he provides this guy with a pistol, drives out to a designated spot, and the guy shoots him in the head. The shot only gazes him however causing a skull fracture. So then the lawyer calls for help. I guess he decided he didn't really want to die after all. The shooter drives off and ditches the pistol. Ah, but the lawyer confesses to the plot. Everyone is facing charges, a whole bunch of charges. A sad tale for sure. But it is how the final chapters in this story being reported that gets my attention.
You see this lawyer has a drug problem, addicted to opioids. He has been for some time, he even stole money from the law firm he worked for to support that habit. After discovering his wife and children shot he planned on checking into a rehab center. Before he did that though he decided to get the guy to shoot him. You see, it's all the fault of opioids. That is where the "reporter" went with this story. Yes, that is what bothers me about this whole tragic event. In the end the blame is on the drugs not on the individual. Sounds to me exactly the same as blaming the gun and not the person shooting it. Are we really going to say that drug abuse is the excuse? What I mean is, the drug is to blame for everything and that lawyer was just a victim? Is that what we are going with? Does that excuse everything? That is where the story goes. In the end I am supposed to feel bad for the lawyer, feel bad for the shooter who is now implicated in this plot, and blame it all on those bad drugs. That's where the blame goes!
I couldn't help but shake my head in response to that article. It is further proof of the way things are going, toward dependence. There is always something or someone else to blame for our troubles. Think about it. If you do drugs it isn't your fault, if you shoot someone it's the guns' fault. It's hot outside, it's climate change, the fault of those using carbon based fuels and cows farting. If you find yourself involved with any of that stuff, it isn't your fault! You should spend your time and efforts advocating for everyone else to change their ways! In fact you should finance all that as well. Rehab centers and mental health facilities should be free to all, readily available to those victims. And make no mistake about it, you are a victim, not your fault. If you loot stores, rob people, assault others and generally get involved with criminal activities, not your fault, probably the fault of your environment, or something that happened two hundred years ago. You are just the victim of all that. The fact that a business owner doesn't want to build a store in your neighborhood because it would be robbed every other day isn't your fault. They should build a store in your neighborhood, you know, so you don't have to travel so far to rob another one!
Some years back there was a popular term thrown about, tough love. That phrase was basically saying to tell the person the truth and having them face reality. Yes, that's tough love. It's tough to understand that you are wrong, you are not a victim, and it is your own fault! It goes back to what your Mom or Dad may have said, if Billy jumped off the roof would you do that too? It wasn't Billy's' fault if you did something stupid! Get drunk and do something idiotic? That's your fault, not Jose Cuervo's. He may be a friend of yours but bottom line is you are responsible for the company you keep. It's my thinking we need to return to that. It's true that change starts one person at a time. It is also true that person should be you, not someone else, or something else for that matter. When I was little I wanted a pocket knife and I got one. Almost right away I cut myself with that knife. Whose fault was that? Mine and mine alone. It wasn't the fault of the knife in any way, in fact that knife performed exactly as it was designed. It was me that fouled up! I learned a valuable lesson from that and have carried a pocket knife ever since. It hasn't cut me again!
For me I am just getting sick and tired of it all. You can't make yourself a victim and then blame someone else for that. You can't start a fire, put it out and declare yourself a survivor or a hero! You are neither. In that scenario you are a arsonist! You can't own a gun, shoot other people with it and then blame the gun. And now we blaming everyone else because we are getting sick! Guess what, you have always caught sicknesses, diseases and such from other people. That's not new! Protect yourself is the best you can do and do not insist everyone else share in your paranoia. The mask works both ways doesn't it? It prevents the virus from escaping and prevents it from entering. Worried about airborne virus. Wear a mask. Take responsibility for yourself and I'll be responsible for me. I have a one in three hundred and sixty six chance of being in a car accident. The odds would be a lot more in my favor if you just parked your car and stayed off the road! Yet, I'm not insisting you should do that. I'll just risk it because I want to drive my car. I'll assume the responsibility for what happens. If I run into you, it's my fault! If you run into me, it's your fault.
As for that lawyer and that whole mess, it is his own fault. He is responsible for it. Lock him up! The accomplice is just as guilty, lock him up! What caused all that to happen? Choices, the lawyers choices, the accomplice choices. It wasn't drugs or mental illness, it was the choices made. Start holding people accountable for their choices and things will change. Maybe we just need to start using middle names, like your Mom did. When you heard that you knew that wasn't a good thing and the hammer was coming down. The best thing you could do is accept the punishment and promise to never do that again. And you would be reminded of that, frequently, for years to come. There was no parole or probation! Nope, it was your own fault.
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