If all the rules were removed . . . .
Last two weeks have been bloody hectic. Two of my cousins have gotten married, one last weekend and one this just passing Saturday. Plus, my mom hosted a wedding reception party for my uncle on Friday and I spent two days helping her out with that. Melissa's wedding, on the 4th, was fun, but Talia's wasn't really. I hadn't seen Tali in 10 years, so we don't really have much in common anymore. I'm the oldest person on both sides of my family in my generation who isn't married. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for any of my friends or family that can find a "forever" kind of love, but for myself, I'm pretty cynical about marriage, domesticity, the whole ball of wax. I guess I could express the viewpoints i've got, but that would only make me unpopular.
Though, I'd like to perform a marriage ceremony for someone, despite my cynicism. Go figure.
But that's not really what I was wanting to talk about. I was reading a story today that wasn't really my thing, but it got me to thinking anyway. Watching our weekly episode of "Dexter" got me to thinking further. Recalling a convo Monday with the crew got me to thinking further still. When someone says that they aren't capable of killing someone, how true is it, exactly? How much of our restraint toward one another, our civility, our live & let live is sanctioned only by the fact that law and society forbid killing one another?
Maybe what I'm truly trying to ask is: Do we keep savagery, or tendencies toward it, locked away in ourselves out of kindness and comapssion to others, or out of necessity?
As for myself, I am sure it's both. There are some people whom I genuinely like, and would never dream of hurting them even if I could. One of the reasons I couldn't finish what I was reading was the fact that the killer seemed to have a genuine affection for most of his victims. How can you kill someone you like? Someone toward whom you feel no malice or anger? (then again, I'm reminded of the Ask a Ninja question: "Why do Ninjas kill? Why can't they love, instead?" Answer: "I love killing!") I guess that's why some people are psychopaths. Anger and malice, while often fueled by the heat of passion, are sort of logical motivations to want to attack someone. Psychopaths act against logic.
Then again, there are some people whom, if the rules were removed, I would most certainly kill, or at least want someone else to kill. (Two of my close friends were molested as kids. One of those friends has a niece who was raped by her own father. If there wasn't a law, I'd empty a gun into those fuckers that did it myself.) Given the power, there is really no end to the lengths people will go to, and that's a frightening thing.
Does might make right, in the case of someone having power over others? 98% of the time, I'd say absolutely not. But if rules are removed, if they no longer apply to you (or if you feel they don't), your sense of what's right and wrong can become awfully skewed.