Gene German / The Examiner / March 13, 2009
There was another funeral today.
I would like to offer my condolences to the family of Pastor Fred Winters who was shot to death in his church last Sunday morning and my thanks to those people who bravely put their own life as risk to stop the madman. http://www.thonline.com/article.cfm?id=235759
I do not have any more facts about this attack than what we have all read in the news. Still, it seems like déjà vu all over again.
Some time ago, Dave Grossman wrote about what he describes as the three kinds of people. He uses animals to illustrate his examples (so do not take offense). His article is rather lengthy so I'll give you my abbreviated version.
Mr. Grossman says the vast majority of people (well over 90%) are sheep who are incapable of violence. If a sheep is attacked, they rationalize it must just be their time to die. If they see another sheep being attacked, they will not intervene to save them. They can't. Sheep live in a constant state of denial. I think when they read about drive by shooting, or of someone else being killed, it tends to reinforce their false sense of security because the attack happened to someone else, not them. They are still safe.
Then there are wolves. Wolves amount to 3%-4% of the population and wolves will kill just for the sport of killing, they do not need a reason. They have no moral compass and have no fear the consequences of attacking the sheep. Wolves are generally a more highly developed criminal. Wolves have often been the criminal justice system for some time and have learned their way around it. It's consequences are less costly than the profit they realize from committing crimes. As long as that is true, we will always have wolves hunting and killing the sheep.
The third type of person is a sheepdog. We make up the balance of the population. Sheepdogs are capable of violence, but we must be specifically threatened. A sheepdog will use the amount of violence necessary plus one; including the use of lethal force to defend our life. Sheepdogs may also come to the aid of another person who is in danger. Sheepdogs understand that a wolf could appear anywhere anytime, so unlike the sheep; sheepdogs are always on the alert for wolves.
The problem is that to the sheep, wolves and sheepdogs both have four legs, a pointy nose, pointy ears and a tail. Wolves and sheepdogs look the same to the sheep. That is why it is so easy for sheep to believe what they see on the TV news many nights or read in the Daily Sheep Dip and Fishwrap, that that guns and guy's with guns, are always bad.
We have learned several things about attacks such as this one. Wolves come prepared to attack and kill as many people as possible and they plan to die themselves in the end. We also know the sooner a sheepdog acts to stop an attacking wolf, the less time the wolf has to kill or do serious harm to others and the body count stays lower. When a wolf picks a mall, a school, a church or places where there are a greater number of people, it is because they go there expecting to have a high body count and wolves do not plan to be stopped because they believe they are in a place where sheepdogs are not welcome (gun free zones). They often save the last bullet for themselves and commit suicide. However, every time a madman is interrupted from their killing by a sheepdog, they often decide to end it all sooner than they planned and they decide to shoot themselves before they can kill more people.
Because those sheepdogs went to church last Sunday and they were capable and willing to stop the wolf, I am certain lives were saved.
Should you begin to notice more and more citizens who are visably armed in public, it is likely that you are looking at a sheepdog.
Gene German