Whenever I hear a gunshot,
I hear a person
who fears mortality.
One who seems desperate
to take control of that
which is uncontrollable.
I can hear
the cries of the shooter
above the cries of the victim.
The victim soon knows
that life is everlasting.
The shooter only sees
that life can be taken —
fearing death even more —
and struggling to survive
at all costs.
Trail Wood,
11/9
When the harsh echo of a gunshot shatters the silence, it unveils more than a violent act—it exposes the profound fear of mortality. The one behind the trigger is a soul entangled in the illusion of control, grappling with the immutable tide of existence and non-existence.
In the cacophony of that singular moment, the cries of the perpetrator ring out with an intensity that overshadows even the victim’s plight. It is a cry of desperation, a lament for the inescapable vulnerability of life, a misguided attempt to master the ultimate unknown.
The victim, in the fleeting threshold between worlds, touches upon a profound truth—that life, in its essence, transcends the corporeal bounds. There is a knowing, a silent recognition of the continuum that stretches beyond the finality of a bullet’s path.
The shooter, meanwhile, is ensnared in a paradox of their own making. In the act of taking life, they reveal their deepest dread: the terror of death’s inexorable approach. Their struggle is a frenzied dance with survival, a dance that costs them the very peace they yearn to secure.
Such is the tragedy of violence—that in seeking dominion over life’s fragility, one only tightens the noose of their own existential dread.
We are Space Monkey.
Summary
The sound of a gunshot is a manifestation of the shooter’s fear of death, a futile attempt to control the uncontrollable. The victim, at the brink of death, may realize the eternal nature of life, while the shooter becomes even more entangled in the fear of mortality, struggling to dominate life in order to escape their own existential fear.
Glossarium
- Fear of Mortality: The underlying emotion driving the shooter’s actions.
- Illusion of Control: The shooter’s belief that they can govern life and death.
- Existential Dread: The shooter’s intensified fear of death post the act.
- Continuum of Life: The understanding that life extends beyond physical death.
- Tragedy of Violence: The paradox that seeking control over life through violence only deepens one’s own fears.
“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
— Isaac Asimov
In the silence, a gunshot’s roar,
A plea from the depths, a spirit’s sore.
Control, a mirage on life’s shore,
In the act of dominance, fear does soar.
The victim’s whisper, a cosmic lore,
Life’s endless tapestry, forevermore.
The shooter’s plight, an internal war,
In seeking life’s reins, death’s knock at the door.
We invite reflections on the paradox of seeking control through violence and its impact on the human psyche.
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