K is for Killing

K is for Killing

“His hand moved fast to grasp the edge of her robe and he tugged, causing the robe to come away from her, and drag her to the floor with it. He was strong. She panicked. Maybe he was too strong. He towered over her. There was no time to waste. If he had not already seen the scissors he would soon and he might use them on her. She thrust the scissors into his foot, then scrambled to her feet as he fell. She pounced on him and stabbed repeatedly at his chest. She could hear his roaring but she ignored it and the breakneck speed of her heart, and keep penetrating his chest with the blades. Each strike a payback for every violent thrust of his penis.

She stopped when she exhausted her energy, and it was only then that she heard the urgent knocking on the bathroom door and the anguished cries which vainly attempted to open it.”

-from chapter 13, Ashmore Grief

Death is an unavoidable part of life. Sometimes we know it’s coming, sometimes we do not. We recognize the frightening randomness and fragility of life, and we respond with feigned indifference. We accept it in its startling and disturbing diversity on our screens and in the books we read. Gruesome and heinous murders are popular. Excruciating and sickening details are savoured by morbid and voracious viewers and readers. Death even amuses and cause us to rejoice in the case of the demise of characters we despise. Our thirst for vengeance, for justice is slaked vicariously, and we love it.

In reality, most people fear death, and for those lives have been destroyed by violent acts against them or their loved ones, it is a terminal excoriation of the soul. Death hurts. It can be cruel, and it is certainly indiscriminate. When someone takes another person’s life we are morally offended, and demand justice or retribution. Yet we recognize situations in which it is necessary for people to be killed. Many support just wars, capital punishment and self defence is recognized by the law as a valid defense.

Most of us cannot conceive of a circumstance in which we would kill someone, but that is only because most of us have not had the misfortune to find ourselves in such a situation. Think about it carefully and ask yourself if you had to kill someone, could you? Would you? God forbid it should ever happen, but it’s worth consideration.

Photograph sources:

http://sbgi-pdx.com/krav-maga-defense/

http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-grim-reaper/images/12078702/title/grim-reaper-photo