Multiple Fatalities at the American Fish Company

HOOK

Last night, a lone gunman traveled by boat from Oak Island to the pier of the American Fish Company restaurant in Southport, NC. He then unloaded a slew of bullets, killing three innocent people and wounding others. The guy is in custody and so far, has only offered up that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. An investigation is underway.

Enough is enough! Not only to the increasing rise of such violence and disregard for the sanctity of life in our country but also to my diminishing ability to offer an alternative narrative or refuge from the noise of the world's news.

LINE

I was going to title this post, "How Not to Start a Blog" but how boring is that? It was also going to start off with something like the following:

1. Get excited!

2. Set up the blog online.

3. Create your first post!

4. Go on vacation and do nothing but ride your bike, read books, and eat too much food.

5. Return from vacation and immediately begin working an overtime schedule at the school you teach at.

6. Get further sidetracked with the world's news.

7. Feel guilty for not writing blog posts to help others not get sidetracked by the world's news.

8. Reach point of crippling word-processing paralysis.

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Bla, bla, bla.

SINKER

Murder at a fish restaurant, though ... now that's something to write about. As far as I know, no fish were harmed. Well, except for the ones that people were eating.

Did the suspect have a beef against fish? Is that even correct for me to ask that?

Perhaps the stress the suspect was suffering was not from the hauntings of fear, death and loss in military settings he had participated in but from a near-death shrimp allergy he experienced in his youth. Remember Will Smith's character in the movie "Hitch"? Or the woman with the shellfish allergy in "The Nutty Professor"? While filmmakers perhaps should not exploit such terrifying allergies for the sake of humor or shock appeal, their depictions of the allergy sufferers were indeed traumatic.

Or was the suspect just simply angry that he had been denied a table at the fish restaurant due to wearing improper attire? Rather than realizing and chastising his own neglect to check ahead to see if there was a dress code, he decided instead to just go back on a different day and pick off all those in blue sport coats and ties?

We may never know.

The victim's names have not yet been released but there are three. While we can assume that they probably had a great meal - or hopefully had at least a great appetizer, we do not know who they leave behind. They were somebody's child and were possibly someone's spouse and somebody's parent. Their life was unique and important and special. It was created by a holy God, thereby making it sacred.

The suspect's life, too, was unique and important and special. It, too, was created by a holy God, thereby making it sacred. Why did he not know this? What could any of us have done to help him know this? Had he known, I'm certain he wouldn't have chosen to destroy his or anyone else's.

Phew. Heavy thoughts. I didn't really mean for this part of my post to be an actual "sinker," but not all casts can be made with dry flies, eh? And at least I made one. A post, that is. Word-processing paralysis be gone!

Think I'll just wrap this up with a reminder to value your life and the lives of those around you. Probably also a good idea to get tested for allergies and/or to keep a spare blazer and tie in the car.