Shooting near Pittsburgh
I suppose you could call me a coward where I was too chicken to post this on Facebook. Something I need to overcome quickly. Especially as a parent. I am not sure what many of you know about me, but I am employed in the field law. Yesterday, I found myself participating in a day long trial of a 27 year old man who made the mistake of possessing a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol after being convicted of and was on parole for a 2004 felony (assault on a police officer). We won't even go into the fact he had actually been convicted of b & e before that. Side note, there is a law (I find it logical) that once you are convicted of a felony, you lose the right to bear arms. We actually managed to have five police officers, one gun expert from ATF, and the defendant testify AND get a return verdict of guilty by 5:00 p.m. I was satisfied with this. No, I generally was feeling quite good that I worked on this case and helped the lawyers and law enforcement officials get a really bad apple off the street.
My celebration was short lived when I decided to check the news on-line and found the report on the fatal shooting that took place at a fitness center in a township outside of Pittsburgh. A 49 year old gentlemen known as being a loner was distraught over the fact that he had not had a relationship (any apparently) since 1984, hadn't had a date since 2006, and had not had sex for the last 19 years. While I was never the ultimate "ladies man," I am proud to say that I was never so pathetic as to post a web site dedicated to how lonely and miserable I was. Nor did I ever post that I wanted to take out my revenge on the female community (of course, even my most deranged thoughts never took me there).
But what bugs me the most about this is that this pathetic loser decided that other people (namely random women) should have to pay for his misery. He went into a fitness center and went to an aerobics class and opened fire killing three women (ages 35 to 49-I believe) and injuring nine others. It is the loss of these three lives to hit me the hardest. I would like to think something like this would have always hit me hard, but that would be lie. I was actually quite distant from that kind of emotion until I met Lucy who promptly slapped some sense into me. Tonight, eleven years later, I stood with Lucy and stared down at our daughter quietly sleeping not realizing the chaotic world that daddy will never truly be able to protect her from. Three women dead. I don't know anything about them except their ages. I have no idea if there is a mother and father crying tonight over the senseless loss of a daughter. I have no idea if there are children tonight wanting to know why their mother isn't coming home. Whether there are siblings angrily asking themselves "WHY?!"
THIS BASTARD took three lives that he had no right to interfere with. He complained on his web site that women were bad and none of them wanted to be with him. So what? The first questioned I asked myself this afternoon was "what was his definition of "any woman?" Most likely, it wasn't "any woman." Just the ones who would qualify for SI Swimsuit edition. This would make sense considering his targets. Secondly, if the facts of his life were true, maybe he should have come to grips that it wasn't them, but maybe he had a major character flaw. Wait a second, I forgot we are talking a man who believes the only women who exist have to have the looks and shape of Lindsey, Britney, and Paris. Thirdly,(have to admit I'm stealing this one from Lucy), what right did he have to believe he was entitled to a relationship. Life is challenging, and I will be the first to say it is not fair. Deal with it! I am also angry that the coward killed himself. I support the death penalty, but I would have also supported him spending the rest of his life behind bars (and hey, he'd sure find a lot love on the cell block). I apologize for the length of this post and that it seems to really be nothing more than a bunch of blabbing. I am just so appalled at this loss of life for absolutely no reason at all. I have two women in my life now. Something I didn't have a decade ago. And now I have to worry about this shit every time they go out.
Thanks for listening.
My celebration was short lived when I decided to check the news on-line and found the report on the fatal shooting that took place at a fitness center in a township outside of Pittsburgh. A 49 year old gentlemen known as being a loner was distraught over the fact that he had not had a relationship (any apparently) since 1984, hadn't had a date since 2006, and had not had sex for the last 19 years. While I was never the ultimate "ladies man," I am proud to say that I was never so pathetic as to post a web site dedicated to how lonely and miserable I was. Nor did I ever post that I wanted to take out my revenge on the female community (of course, even my most deranged thoughts never took me there).
But what bugs me the most about this is that this pathetic loser decided that other people (namely random women) should have to pay for his misery. He went into a fitness center and went to an aerobics class and opened fire killing three women (ages 35 to 49-I believe) and injuring nine others. It is the loss of these three lives to hit me the hardest. I would like to think something like this would have always hit me hard, but that would be lie. I was actually quite distant from that kind of emotion until I met Lucy who promptly slapped some sense into me. Tonight, eleven years later, I stood with Lucy and stared down at our daughter quietly sleeping not realizing the chaotic world that daddy will never truly be able to protect her from. Three women dead. I don't know anything about them except their ages. I have no idea if there is a mother and father crying tonight over the senseless loss of a daughter. I have no idea if there are children tonight wanting to know why their mother isn't coming home. Whether there are siblings angrily asking themselves "WHY?!"
THIS BASTARD took three lives that he had no right to interfere with. He complained on his web site that women were bad and none of them wanted to be with him. So what? The first questioned I asked myself this afternoon was "what was his definition of "any woman?" Most likely, it wasn't "any woman." Just the ones who would qualify for SI Swimsuit edition. This would make sense considering his targets. Secondly, if the facts of his life were true, maybe he should have come to grips that it wasn't them, but maybe he had a major character flaw. Wait a second, I forgot we are talking a man who believes the only women who exist have to have the looks and shape of Lindsey, Britney, and Paris. Thirdly,(have to admit I'm stealing this one from Lucy), what right did he have to believe he was entitled to a relationship. Life is challenging, and I will be the first to say it is not fair. Deal with it! I am also angry that the coward killed himself. I support the death penalty, but I would have also supported him spending the rest of his life behind bars (and hey, he'd sure find a lot love on the cell block). I apologize for the length of this post and that it seems to really be nothing more than a bunch of blabbing. I am just so appalled at this loss of life for absolutely no reason at all. I have two women in my life now. Something I didn't have a decade ago. And now I have to worry about this shit every time they go out.
Thanks for listening.