First, let me begin by stating that I am pro Second Amendment. Both Lisa and I have our CCP and worship our inalienable right to bear arms.
But such rights demands corresponding responsibility.
Every couple of years, one of the four way stop signs at the intersection of County Roads 4 and 21 takes a hit on a Saturday night with some probably inebriated Yahoo (read Gulliver’s Travels) emptying a magazine into it.
Now there are a couple of facts I can deduce from the outcome.
First, the shooter was probably a male,
https://news.gallup.com/poll/406238/stark-gender-gap-gun-ownership-views-gun-laws.aspx
on the precipice of adulthood, sitting shotgun in the passenger side of a vehicle heading east on CR4 when the shots were fired. If he was in the driver’s side of his car, he would have had to lean out the driver window and fire across the front of his car, lefthanded. And while there are 708 millian left handed humans – most of them male – something suggests this is the kind of dumb crime of opportunity that a couple of frustrated tipsy male teens who don’t have a date on a Saturday night might get up to. Sigmund Freud would have a field day with the revving car and gun penis metaphors. And given that the joyriders know that by discharging their weapon they are vandalizing public property, probably under cover of darkness, and therefore committing a criminal act, the driver probably stayed behind the wheel ready to speed off before the last echo of the report from the firing weapon dissipated. So I’m sticking with the shotgun seat positioned shooter.
Second, the shooter was a lousy shot, given the lack of a central cluster set in the center of the “O”. A marksman would have tried to show off – gone for center mass. This spread smacks of amateur, or very drunk. We’re talking a distance of maybe ten yards at most.
Third, and most importantly, the shooter can’t read. Or the light reflecting “STOP” boldly printed across the sign would have triggered the idea that they should, well, Stop.
And this last deduction brings me to the more important point.
“Youth is wasted on the young.” – George Bernard Shaw.
Young people need to read more.
“Reading books may have several physical and mental benefits. These include strengthening your brain, increasing your ability to empathize, reducing stress, and building your vocabulary, among others.”
https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-reading-books
Now, if these two young men were readers, their strengthened brains would have allowed them to deduce that maybe they shouldn’t be firing off their hand guns on the open road in the middle of the night. It’s a recipe for disaster. Who knows where a missing bullet could end up. A fired gun is unforgiving. You cannot call back a fired round.
If these knuckleheads were readers, they would have had more empathy, and would therefore consider the need of the public in not having weapons being discharged in such a dangerous and haphazard way. Just the fright the sound of late night gunshots engenders in the probably sleeping neighbors is something worth considering. They would also empathize by considering the waste of their tax paying parents’ money from the public purse, in the cost – labor and materials – of replacing that stop sign.
And in case the two knuckleheads haven’t yet figured it out – as reflected in the fact that they are two dateless dudes hanging out alone on a Saturday night – women like empathetic men.
Now increased empathy plays into the stress reduction aspect. Let me repeat, women like empathetic men. There are far better ways to reduce your stress on a summertime Saturday night. But first you need to impress a woman, and they are not naturally attracted to Yahoos.
Which is where the increased vocabulary comes in.
Smart is sexy. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/slightly-blighty/201802/why-intelligent-partner-can-be-so-attractive
There are lots of good looking manikins passing for humans on this planet. They are fun to look at and even fun to have sex with. But trust me on this, there are only so many times you want to make a post coital, coyote escape (chewing off your arm rather than pulling it free from under a pillow and chance waking your sleeping, beautiful manikin) in the middle of the night. There comes a time when you want to wake up next to an intelligent human being who makes the morning sun shine brighter and coffee taste that much better. There is nothing worse than realizing that the perceived beauty that attracted you the night before is really only skin deep. Those parameters apply in both directions.
In return, you want that intelligent partner to think you are worth waking up to as well. You want someone who is smart enough to see through your bullshit, and the only way to keep that erudite potential partner coming back is to impress them with your well defined view of the world. That cannot happen if your do not read about the world (and maybe other worlds). And always remember that with each fun fling of coitus, there is the potential extension of your gene pool. Those repeat opportunities will not happen if you remain a Yahoo. Women want more in a mate than a sexually useful idiot.
So read. Novels, poetry (an absolute must), even science books that hint at where your species and world may be heading.
Show the world that you are a worthwhile member of society whose genes should continue to populate the future, and not abruptly end that possibility by an accidental discharge of your weapon while drunk on a Saturday night (although given the number of Yahoos one may meet, who like to shoot at Stop Signs, they may be the result of a whole different kind of drunken, accidental Saturday night discharge).
So read. And if you are a young person who wants to read something that you may find humorously and painlessly mind expanding, put down that weapon and pick up The Claire Saga. Then, the next time you open your mouth in a gathering of discerning potential partners, you are bound to say something intelligent enough (or at least funny enough) to stand out among the chorus and land that date on the next Saturday night.
Well, enough pontificating.
Tuesday is here, so congratulations, you fine, five readers have survived your respective Mondays.
Let’s finish our java and get out there and own this work week.
But first, a kitty cuddle and my rounds.
And no matter where else the Universe may be leading us, let us make today a great one.
