Oscar Pistorius, Olympic and Paralympic star runner, first man to compete in the Olympics running on two artificial legs, was arraigned in court today in South Africa, on charges of premeditated murder. Shot and killed his girlfriend on Valentine's day, he says, because he believed her to be a prowler in the house. A lone judge will decide his fate.
When my now 31 year old daughter was just a few weeks old, I awoke in the middle of the night, hearing a noise in the hallway outside my bedroom. My daughter's mother was not in bed next to me; I could hear her rocking and singing to our daughter in the room adjacent to ours. The noise in the hallway moved out into the living room, then out to kitchen. By now, I was convinced I was hearing footsteps, that a prowler was in the house. The steps then started back from the kitchen, and stopped in front of the door to the bedroom. Very slowly, the door opened, revealing a hulking figure back lit by the hall light. I screamed out in terror, only to discover it was my daughter's mother returning to our bed.
To this day, I believe, had there been a handgun next to the bed, I would have shot my daughter's mother, for I was certain there was a prowler in the house endangering my family in the next room.
Good fucking reason not to have a handgun in the house!
No one will ever know what happened in the Pistorius household that night, irrespective of any verdict of law. What we do know, is that some kind of fear took possession in that house. And when fear takes hold of us, in the night, or in the bright light of noonday, bad stuff tends to happen.
Good reason to master our fears.
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