They Have Been Disarmed

I am celebrating, but I feel bad about it.

Not that long ago, a gun store opened in my neighborhood.  I really, really, hate guns.  We could talk about constitutional rights.  We could talk home invasions.  School shootings.  Or we could skip over that.  We could simply state that I would never buy one and dislike the idea of having that many bullets so close to my residence.

I have long wanted this business to fail.  I clenched my jaw as I passed.  I pined for broken windows or very localized fires.  This was not a local business that would have my support.

But I did not wish ill on the people.  I have never had it out for those that would traffic in goods that I felt were unwise.  I did not want those clerks to suffer.  I wanted them to be able to pay their bills and have a warm place to sleep.  What kind of jerk wants others to suffer?  That is still someone’s kid or someone’s brother.

Yet, I kept hoping that the business would fail. By the looks for the store, and the “for lease” sign outside, it finally did.

Can you want someone to completely bomb in one area and maintain that you want them to succeed?

I am trying to come up with similar scenarios.  Should you want your best friend to be rejected when they ask that guy out because you think he is a tremendous creep and she deserves better?  Short term emotional pain to avoid long term suffering?  Should you delight in your underpaid friend never winning the lottery that they enter every week, since you know that their odds of going bankrupt go up if they win? 

Of course, saying that means that you may very well be adopting a, “I know better,” attitude.  “I know what is best for you and so I am dictating terms.”  Which, at least in this situation, is malarky.  I do not know what the owner or the staff look like, let alone their names. 

I know that I did not want them to earn money from selling weapons. 

I have been where they are.  I have had my store close.  I have seen my boss concede defeat.  We packed everything up.  Turned in our keys.  We left a few things in the building because we could not muster the energy to care.  It was no longer our store so why worry about vacuuming one last time?  I know the feeling of retail failure.

I am on my high horse and I do not know if I get to ride into the sunset or if I will should get bucked off it. 

I am thrilled that the store is closed.  I do a mental happy dance every time I pass it.  I treated the store with disdain.  Would those that used to work in that space still think of me as a neighbor if they knew I was rooting against their bottom line?

I want those folks to earn a living.  I want them to go home knowing that they did their job well.  I also want certain industries to collapse.  I am glad that they failed. 

Things are looking up for me. I hope the same is true for them.