Strike 3

She’s done it this time.

Long time readers might recall the friend ─ married to a minister, a leader in her church, that I’d labelled a Hypocrite back in July of 2020.

I labelled her such, not because she was clearly on-board for Thing 45.

Not because she later came out swinging as an anti-masker, with rhetoric such as "It’s not the government’s job to protect my health. It’s the government’s job to protect my rights. It’s my job to protect my health, and when you trade liberty for safety, you end up losing both." ... "Covid is God’s judgment for the state of immorality in our world. The line between right and wrong having slowly been erased by society."

I labelled her a hypocrite, ceased communications, blocked her posts from appearing on my page, stopped visiting her page because she’d crossed a line in preaching about immorality, right, wrong, sin because, when we worked together, while she was married (still is), she was carrying on a relationship with one of the guys on the job.

Waking up too early to start my day this morning, annoy neighbors with the sounds of my activities, I logged onto the laptop to vote for Twin 1 and this friend crossed my mind. I made the mistake of checking her page to see what she’s been up to.

What I found is heartbreaking.

I really liked this girl, and don’t know what's happened to her.

Maybe the weight of her own "sins", the guilt of having for a time led a double life, has blinded her.

Perhaps this version of herself, that she is presenting online and to the congregation, is her own self-defense mechanism. A way to bury deep in the recesses of her mind what she, as Catholic, considers having sinned, to make up for, keep her mind from recalling, but it's Strike 3 for me ─ a thorough and complete unfriending.

I didn't judge her politics, I didn't judge her making a fool of her husband, I don't label choices as "sins", and though she was pretty much dead to me when she became a hypocrite, I might have moved on from that, but this #freeKyle nonsense is the last straw.

While on her page, I read responses to her post.

Of course, the church women who look up to her were all holy and sanctimoniously praising God along with her, but one woman happened to work in law enforcement and chimed in as the Voice of Reason.

The Voice of Reason’s response to “truth and justice prevailed” was "Horrible to think how many kids there are now thinking they can carry guns shoot and kill someone and get away with it."

Of course, my now former friend (Angie) countered with …."I watched the trial and this young man acted in self-defense. As Americans, we have the right to bear arms. The looters/rioters were causing havoc and needlessly/recklessly destroying people’s property and livelihoods. This young man was there to help and render aid in a crisis moment. The evidence clearly proved that the chaos was so horrible that he armed himself just to protect his life while helping others. I’ve said it once and will say it again… the issue with this country isn’t red vs. blue, left vs. right, democrat vs. republican… it’s an issue of good vs. evil/sin that has overtaken the human heart."

Voice of Reason: "If it was such a hard Dangerous situation he should of never been there let alone with an illegal firearm at 17 years old and even when he was bailed out of jail he was bragging of what he did, and you can easily see he went in that situation planning to do something it’s not like he just happened to walk by and see someone that needed help, all his photos look like he went in like mulish-a, he even had gloves on that’s sickening and I understand it is our right to carry I am 100% for that but you will never see me going looking for trouble with our licensed firearms, we are talking about an at the time 17 year old that had no business carrying that weapon in the first place. Is this the face of someone in fear for his life?!?!"

Angie: "Sadly yes, perhaps his being there was also true, but as a mother, my heart was burdened for him and am praying he learned and matured through all of this. May God help him and his family with the days ahead. Watch the trial in its entirety. Give grace to him; he may have been a kid who thought himself heroic. Is that a crime? No… Was it a good choice? Not so much. He had his weapon on him the whole time, but never fired a shot until they physically assaulted him. One of these men was a multiple child-rapist/offender."

Voice of Reason: "Yes one of the victims was a multiple child rapist offender but I was raped as a child my whole childhood and I would never of thought of grabbing a gun in self-defense you don’t fight evil with evil".

(BOOYAH! Mic Drop.)

(Someone else was proud of the Voice of Reason for "you don't fight evil with evil", because that person chimed in with "Tell the truth and shame the devil! You are 100% accurate/Exactly 100%, he was a vigilante. Only thing that got him acquitted was his skin color".)

Angie: "If you watched the trial and the evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense cleared him, not the color of his skin".

Voice of Reason: "I'm a Retired Deputy and have also been an Investigator. Seeing that pompous punk carry the weapon he pranced around with was more than enough evidence for me. He should kept his punk tail home, not going like Rambo somewhere he didn't even live at. He was never deputized as a member of a posse. I don't care how anyone tried to twist it. Let God judge him according to his deeds and heart. Mom should have also been held to answer."

A fourth voice spoke up with, "The Justice System has created a monster… We all know if he was any other race the outcome would’ve been very different."

(Ain't that the truth. In fact there IS just such a situation going on — the case of Tyrese Sherrod also in Kenosha .... A Black Man who did not go out looking for trouble, but ended up shooting people in “self-defense”).

(Anyone have an idea as to how this one is likely to end?).

(Anyone?)

At any rate Angie, having failed to beat the Voice of Reason down with her so-called holy holy Christianity, left the thread.

It ended with the Voice of Reason saying, "As a Christian, I strongly believe that God wouldn’t approve or allow this behavior. If God wanted us to take justice into our own hands than there wouldn’t be a reason to follow Him or for prayer, etc… This young man’s perspective was maybe on point but his actions weren’t! We can’t idolize this behavior. He should’ve gotten jail time along with his parents. We need to raise our kids to be better and make better decisions! It was Law Enforcement job to stop the chaos not his! He should’ve stayed home and prayed over the entire situation or at least made sure if they 'his family' were safe at home; but not go out there thinking he was making a difference, bet if someone would’ve killed him they would’ve gotten the death penalty. Sad world we are living in. #justicehasntbeenserved."

(Amen to that).