Lack of Planning

I'm not the only one who walks. Me brother Phil affords himself regular constitutionals. Yet unlike me he tends to hike in the late afternoon or early evening. 

One Sunday afternoon a bit after 4, he went out. While getting his exercise he figured to check out the Shop, the old barn where we work, just to see it was secure. 

He was just a bit surprised to see a plumber waiting by the door. "Man, I'm glad to see you Cosgriff. I need my machine worked on."

"Well, you're really lucky to find me. We normally aren't here this time of the week," Phil explained.

The man said, "Oh, I know. I just hoped someone might come around eventually."

So you came late on a Sunday afternoon? Did you intend to wait outside my door until Monday? Still, me brother offered, "Well, since I'm here, let's open up and take a quick look at your snake."

The plumber stammered, "Uh, I don't have it with me."

So you came to the Shop at a time when you didn't think that anyone would be there, and you didn't bring your machine, thought Phil. And, you didn't see a flaw in that plan?

Yet he said, "We'll be here tomorrow morning at 8 then sir."

I don't think we ever actually saw him though. That may he just as well.

The Verdict is in

I agree with the Rittenhouse verdict. But we should be careful not to make it into more than what it is, from either side of the aisle. 

Despite all the peripheral issues which may or may not have any actual bearing on the matter, the fact is that justice is individual. If Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self defense, and the jury seemed to think so and they, after all, are the cornerstone of American jurisprudence, then that is the bottom line. We ought to accept it and move on.

We can argue whether he used good judgement in going to Kenosha to begin with but that cannot be a factor in the legal issues over what happened when he arrived. If poor judgment were illegal there wouldn't be enough innocents to guard the guilty, and we have the right to freedom of movement in these United States. Rittenhouse may have put himself in a bad position. But that doesn't take away his right to self defense. 

Grand and broad theories can rarely be drawn from single incidents. Let's not do it here.