NOTICE

108 R.J. GODLEWSKI/INERT
about it; it’s a thought that scares even the most
hardened of souls. What happens when that
situation arises can only be left to you. Armies
have ‘fought’ for centuries trying to figure out ways
in which to make their soldiers fight but the truth
is that only a very special handful actually see
combat. It’s not very much different today than it
was during the Civil War when 27,574 muskets
were recovered from the Gettysburg battlefield –
24,000 were loaded; 12,000 of these were loaded
more than once; and 6,000 of the multiply-loaded
had from three to ten rounds loaded within the
barrel (one weapon had even been loaded 23
times!). 70
What this says about us is that we fear
looking ‘weak’ nearly as much as we fear fighting
itself. We’ll load guns again and again without
firing a single shot but we’ll die doing so.
Fortunately, technology has eliminated such
redundancy but only you can actually squeeze the
trigger upon another human being. This is
probably a question that you’ve asked yourself
many, many times in the past especially if you’ve
ever watched Hollywood action movies or
television shows on the subject.
Myself, I guess I’ve never had this problem.
I was about seven years old when I shot my older
brother in the leg with a pellet gun. I was even
younger when I drove a pencil deeply into his
thigh, leaving a gruesome mark to this very day.
I’ve said it once and I’ve said it a thousand times
since – I’ve never ever injured another living soul
that didn’t deserve it. ☺