The Enemy Within

Yesterday’s news of the shooting at Fort Hood was like a punch in the stomach.  There is an assumed safety for American soldiers within our country. That is a rule.  You sign up to serve for us and you are safe here.  Deal?  Yes that is the deal.  But yesterday someone who’s mind had flipped, took out his rage on his own.   All you can do is shake your head and shed some tears. The questions and investigations will come later, but for now all you have is WHY.

When the rules that we all understand and accept are broken, especially by one who is supposed to be on the same team, the betrayal is deep.  The enemy within, unknown until the moment of action, is the worst type because we are unaware of impending trouble.  Reminds me of the betrayal from Shawn Bryer. We give trust and we are paid back with destruction.

Remember when we read fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood?  There were lessons there, teaching us as children that not everything is as it seems.  Be on the watch, listen to your instincts, be slow to give blind trust.  I know that when my kids were little I found the stories to be a bit scary for little ones and I looked for stories that were nicer. Jan Brett’s Mitten and Winnie the Pooh.  Both great, but perhaps I didn’t focus on teaching my children to watch out because the world can be scary at times.

I am not an advocate for distrusting everyone, but I am an advocate for using your instinct and if you think something is off or not quite right, make note of it. Don’t just give it the benefit of the doubt because of the position or job that person has in the community.  We need to turn our radar on and tune into what is going on around us.