Our neighbor has an annoying habit. He will sometimes get himself really drunk and belligerent and start trying to pick a fight. One night he moved the potted plants we have out by our front door because he was “sick of looking at them”. There was a confrontation, but it didn’t get physical. Last weekend while I was away he started yelling obscenities at some guests my fiancée had over because they were parked in a manner that wasn’t to his liking. I had to come home when he started threatening to kill people. General drunk threats like “I’ll blow you away!” I was so furious I actually got lost driving home, near my own neighborhood. In retrospect, I probably should’ve have been driving while in that emotional state. He’d passed out or something by the time I got there because I didn’t see him that night. Which was fortunate, because I was at the point where I might have assaulted him.
After cooling down I noticed that this was becoming an escalation cycle. I mentioned yesterday that escalation is bad – things just keep getting more intense until someone ends up dead. I needed some way to halt this momentum. The problem is you can’t reason with a drunken idiot. From all signs, it looks like he’s the sort of person who has gotten through life by threatening and bullying others until he gets his way. I have no compunctions about killing someone who’s threatened the life of someone I love, but I’ve got a lot to do with my life that I can’t do from inside a prison.
So we filed a complaint with the police instead. They took down what we said and gave us a number to call, saying we should call them immediately if he does anything belligerent or abusive. I gotta say, I never really realized on a gut level how useful and important this institution is. If I were to take matters into my own hands I’d surely get an escalating cycle of violence and property damage. If it did come down to killing, I’d now have to deal with friends and relatives seeking vengeance. This is no way to run a civilized society. Having a massive force that has been licensed by society to use violence without retribution is vital for anyone who wants to live a decent peaceful life free from aggressors and/or drunken idiots. Hail Leviathan.
The real downside being, of course, what happens when evil people gain control of this tool.