Lessons Society Never Seems To Learn - Granite Grok

Lessons Society Never Seems To Learn

‘Crazy’ is a term of art; ‘Insane’ is a term of law. Remember that, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.   —Hunter S. Thompson

oulson-tmagArticleOn January 13, Curtis Reeves, a 71-year-old retired police captain shot and killed Chad Oulson with a .38 caliber revolver, over what media accounts claim was thrown popcorn and an argument because Oulson would not shut off his cell phone. Oulson and his wife Nicole were at the Wesley Chapel Theater for a, “date night.” Media accounts state that Reeves was annoyed by Oulson’s cell phone use and Oulson refused to shut off his cell phone when the movie previews began. Chad and Nicole have a 22-month-old daughter.

How does this happen? A man with a long police career…a retired police official, a ranking police officer, a career of enforcing the law…a public trust long held, shoots an unarmed man over popcorn thrown at him. This is a man who had volumes of training with firearms and the use of deadly force. And out of the blue he has a meltdown over obnoxious people in a movie theater and kills a guy? It makes absolutely no sense. How did Reeves spiral down so low as to needlessly murder Chad Oulson who did nothing other than being a total douchebag with a cell phone?

We are a less civil society today. Many among us don’t really care about people around them. It is common to be in a place where people are talking loudly on cell phones, despite the media blitz about phone etiquette. The manner in which we drive, cutting people off and giving the finger. Just the other day this fat pig of a woman stepped on my foot in Hannaford food store and didn’t even have the courtesy to say, “excuse me.” Yet, she gave me the dirtiest look when I calmly pointed out, “Lady you just stepped on my foot with your big fat foot.” Looking back, she might have been a total nut and either tried to shoot or stab me. Fortunately, that was not the case.

But the lesson here to be learned is that one can live his or her life as a totally obnoxious, self-centered douchebag, annoying and pestering all those about….One might go about his or her self-centered business never being held accountable for it. But then there will be that single moment in time when one crosses paths with the unstable person on the verge of a meltdown…spiraling down into a chasm of consequence and no return. Obnoxious behavior will get one hurt or even killed.

Curtis Reeves should have maintained control when Chad Oulson was being a douchebag. Reeves didn’t and now Oulson is dead and society cannonizes another rude douchebag and Reeves, known only before as a retired police officer stands scorned, despised and held as a common criminal. Lots of lives ruined. A child without a father; A woman without a Husband; An elderly woman separated from her husband. At the end of the day we have to ask, “was it really worth it?”

The lesson that society never learns is that a few manners an an ounce of courtesy makes one a good person. Today however, instead of being a defiant prick when somebody asks you to turn off your cell phone, be polite, humble, smile and turn off the phone. It may just save your life, especially when the one asking might be a totally unbalanced person.

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