A quote
Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:40 pm
The following is from an interview with Lt. Col Dave Grossman, a retired army ranger who was nominated for the Pullitzer Prize for his book 'On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society':
A: What is truly the biggest threat to our safety, and what would be the single best thing we could do to protect our families?
Q: You know, the biggest threat to our safety statistically speaking is automobile accidents... But you have airbags in your car and you have seat belts in your car and you drive responsibility! One of the things we prepare for is fire. I pulled the fire extinguisher off the wall here, and we have fire exits over there and fire sprinklers over head. We prepare, prepare, prepare for fire. How many kids killed by school fire in all of North America in the last 50 years? Zero! How many kids killed by violence in our schools? Hundreds! The area where we are deficient is preparation for violence. The thing you need to do is turn yourself into a life-saving force, and the thing that threatens the lives of your loved ones is violence. And so as sheep dogs we prepare to confront violence. The area which represents the greatest threat for which we have done the least preparation, in most people's lives because most people are in denial, is violence. And that denial kills you once because you're caught without the tools, you're caught without the training, you die like any other sheep. But it kills you twice because, even if you physically survive, you're psychologically shattered because you know there's things you could and should have done: You should have carried a gun, you could have prepared yourself, you failed to do it, and you'll have trouble living with yourself from that point on because loved ones died and there's things you could and should have done.
A: What is truly the biggest threat to our safety, and what would be the single best thing we could do to protect our families?
Q: You know, the biggest threat to our safety statistically speaking is automobile accidents... But you have airbags in your car and you have seat belts in your car and you drive responsibility! One of the things we prepare for is fire. I pulled the fire extinguisher off the wall here, and we have fire exits over there and fire sprinklers over head. We prepare, prepare, prepare for fire. How many kids killed by school fire in all of North America in the last 50 years? Zero! How many kids killed by violence in our schools? Hundreds! The area where we are deficient is preparation for violence. The thing you need to do is turn yourself into a life-saving force, and the thing that threatens the lives of your loved ones is violence. And so as sheep dogs we prepare to confront violence. The area which represents the greatest threat for which we have done the least preparation, in most people's lives because most people are in denial, is violence. And that denial kills you once because you're caught without the tools, you're caught without the training, you die like any other sheep. But it kills you twice because, even if you physically survive, you're psychologically shattered because you know there's things you could and should have done: You should have carried a gun, you could have prepared yourself, you failed to do it, and you'll have trouble living with yourself from that point on because loved ones died and there's things you could and should have done.
