I write of bumbershoots, solid-point admonitions, and boleadoras ⎯ weapons all.
The Umbrella Incident
This afternoon, while my favorite wife, Lynn, was getting a haircut, I was walking Blondie the cocker along Wisconsin Avenue near Wilson School in DC. The weather was that intriguing late winter/early spring ambiguity of might rain, might hail, might warm life until it blossoms all over, rich with pathetic fallacy in every direction.
School was out. A girl in her early teens seemed delighted that two young boys were taunting her from one side and then the other, and as they did, laughing and scrambling, she played whack-a-mole1 on their heads if they weren't fast enough to jump back from the furled umbrella she swung at them.
Spring was going along according to plan until a silver-haired fellow, seemingly caught up in his thoughts (the new congressional budget proposals or sino-cyber-warfare or something), wandered into bumbershoot range (though behind the wielder) . Ill-fated for sure, he caught one lick square on the head, and it shook him⎯not the force apparently, for it was a light gauge bumbershoot, all rayon, plastic and pot metal, baby blue with big white polka dots, but probably because of the sudden intrusion.
The man's shocked flinch turned to anger, and his face reddened. He faced the girl and seemed to be boiling with rage. Then he exhaled, sighed, and told her that she should be more careful of other people passing by, shouldn't swing her umbrella so recklessly there on the sidewalk.
Then the complication began.2 She denied hitting him, said that it was just an accident and that he shouldn't have been so close. And the two little boys began jeering at the mean old man, and ran up to poke him on one side and then the other. The man's anger seemed to flare again, but he seemed to catch himself again. He just turned around and walked away.
Gratitude
I was glad the conflict went no further. I wondered what if: what if he had been carrying firearms, with or without a CCW permit? What if they all had been carrying firearms? Maybe they had been but hadn't used them. Would they all have been thoughtful enough to contain the incident? Or was this a good time to be weighing the merits of full metal jacket versus hollow point ammo. I concluded that those who feel the need for firearms will have them, but I also hoped that they would carry some effective alternative ammo, like solid point Admonition XV:
1. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Mt. 5:9). 2. The true peacemakers are those who preserve peace of mind and body for love of our Lord Jesus Christ, despite what they suffer in this world.
Lynn and I encountered that passage this morning while reading the Franciscan Office. Weapons will always be available, but we need to make conflict resolution methods at least as readily available.
Even More Good Ammo
And then I remembered the work being done by PeaceMaker Minnesota to teach nonviolent conflict resolution early in life. That's got more constructive potential than a bunker full of loaded high capacity clips.
Boleadoras
Generally I don't write much about gauchos, and I may not be even now. When my cynical buddy Carlitos heard about the newly elected pope, in a rare moment of seriousness he remarked, "...un hombre de la gente, y Argentineño, si, pero puede bailar con boleadoras?" I don't think Carlitos was really worried about whether ¬former cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio can dance; I think it was just his way of expressing hope that Pope Francis I is up to the life-comes-at-you-fast task.
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1 The arcade game, and apparently the genuine article can be yours for $4,500.00 at hammacher.com.
2 I only saw this because Blondie just happened to have found the perfect grassy spot nearby--out of range, mind you--and was doing her thing.
