![]() In the documentary film, That Which I Love Destroys Me, former Delta Force operator, Tyler Grey says, “Take anyone in the world … no one can hold out forever. That tells you something about the stress that comes from trauma, and something I highlighted in my book Warrior SOS: Interviews, Insights and Inspiration. There are 22 veterans taking their own lives each day in this country. It’s situation dependent and, ask those who have been in these situations, before and you’ll begin to see that perhaps for some there are times that a coffin would seem better than survival. However doing so comes with a cost and that cost isn’t set in stone. That is not the case at all–if it’s honorable and morally and legally justifiable to defend yourself and your family, I feel it’s your obligation to do so. Only the shortsighted, or those who are entirely ignorant of my work, will take this as some suggestions that people should hesitate when their lives are on the line. ![]() There is enough emotional pain accompanying a lethal encounter, that the last thing that anybody is going to want to do is have to pay someone to live through it all again. Not only would you have to deal with the emotional survival wounds, including stress, nightmares, anxiety and increased vigilance, but now depression, loss of sleep, and shame and guilt might also accompany your legal fees. In the realm of hypothetical situations, it’s one I want desperately to avoid (and I’m sure you do too). That costs money, not t0 mention other social damages. In fact, even if a deadly force situation is fully justified, you will be advised to seek legal counsel. Often a defendant will take a plea bargain because if the case has made it that far up the legal food chain, there’s a chance something was wrong about the shooting, which is enough for the state to pursue to the bitter end. ![]() ![]() The truth is that most cases don’t go to trial. In kind, I think that if you are going to quote this cliche as justification for anything, it’s important to actually ask yourself would you really want to live through the mental and emotional anguish, not the mention the cruel uncertainty, of having to be tried before a grand jury? ![]() Now you’ll get no argument from me that living is preferable to dying, but, I do propose that there’s a lot of misery associated with picking the first option too–tragedy that’s perhaps lost in this simplistic motto. The insinuation is that the person doing the killing would live and be tried by a jury-made up of 12 people-while the number six references the number of pallbearers who would carry the coffin at their funeral had they decided not to draw their weapon. If you’re unfamiliar, this phrase essentially means that killing someone is preferable to being killed. There’s so much information left unspoken in a phrase like “It’s better to be tried by 12 than carried by six” and when it comes to taking a life, there is no room to leave anything unexamined. They’re boring, they usually aren’t accurate and, by definition, they show a lack of creativity but even more importantly, cliches lack depth. Personally, I don’t like cliches too much. I’ve heard it repeated dozens of times and so have you: “It’s better to be tried by twelve than carried by six.” What does this cliché really mean anyway? And, is it true? ![]()
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