Living and Dying on Hate

There was just a news story on about a young black kid who is accused of murdering a 22 year old rival and his 2 year old son. One of the relatives of the alleged killer said something that resonated with me and I'm going to paraquote here.

"Young black men, put the guns down, killing someone else for something they did doesn't end it, it makes his friends come back and kill some of us. No one wins, everyone loses. The killing affects alot more than just you and the one you killed. Stop the killing, put down the guns."

And she's right, retaliatory killings don't stop the violence, they escalate it and we wind up with a child shot to death in his father's arms, we end up with by-standers shot while doing nothing but existing, we have 16 year old girls shot in the head by their fiery tempered and easily set off teen fury boyfriends, we have asshole kids taking out their impotent frustrations on some ducks.

Stop the violence, break the cycle, put down the gun and maybe live long enough to find something worth living for instead of something worth killing for.
Tags: killing, murder, revenge, payback