By Mark Antony Rossi

The act of killing is not a random event. It is an instinctual response programmed in the human species.  I realize that doesn’t sound as noble as original sin or self-defense but the bottom line is less than elegant. There is much killing in the world and this is blamed on excess weapons or naked evil. But I remind you killing can occur in the absence of guns and iniquity. Killing often occurs because it is so damn easy. It’s a dark sector dwelling within human nature immune to religious guilt or political evolution. It’s a constant like the North Star illuminating a primitive path constructed by our Creator. Sometimes I wonder if killing is the eternal price we pay for Free Will.

 There’s nothing magical or mystical about ending a life; do not let your clergy pontificate about impulses they don’t fully comprehend. If we need a savior, ask him why we were created this way. If humans were made in the image of God, then God must also be a killer. The terrible truth from time immemorial: killing is forbidden due to the ease of its exercise. It is the first commandment for one solitary reason: the brutal cost of person hood. The slayer relinquishes a segment of their humanity; I daresay, their immortal soul. I suspect we were not originally meant to kill and the blessing (or curse) of freedom has given us a power far greater than our spirits can truly bare.

What is lost, like the dead, cannot return. There is no redemption in this life for taking a life regardless of the mitigation or motivation. You can live the remainder of your days in awesome respect of the child you fathered or marinate your liver in an ocean of liquor. Some things cannot heal — try as we may. But the ultimate beauty of the human creation is the indomitable desire to be rise above the sum of our shortcomings. In this journey the happiness of humanity stands the strongest chance of building a better world and finally finding a love capable of pushing back the primal instinct.

About the Author: Mark Antony Rossi is a poet, playwright and author of the bioethics volume “Dark Tech” now available from Amazon. His most recent plays have been produced in Liverpool and New York. http://markantonyrossi.jigsy.com