Wild Wild West

It's Secret Subject Swap time!!!!!

This is so exciting! I love getting a random subject to blog about. Don't tell Karen, but I often don't even open the prompt until the day before the posts are due. I think it's more fun that way. I've had a million bucks to spend on frivolous things, a chance to travel through time and have dinner with historical people, and even the chance to re-do a moment in my history. I can't wait to see what kind of adventure I get this time...

Oh. OK, well this is a bit deeper than I was expecting. I might have to do a bit of research. "Vigilantism" is kind of a big word to be using during a holiday week, dontcha think?

The first thing I thought of when I read this prompt (after the initial panic, of course) is the TV show Bones. I don't actually watch a lot of TV, but this is one show I actually watched pretty regularly. It's a crime/detective type show and the main character, Bones, is a forensic anthropologist. Bones' character was a very pragmatic person and she always cautioned those she worked with not to bend laws. In order for the system to work correctly, we need to trust the system to work correctly. That's not how she said it, but that's the gist of it.

I mostly believe that. There are lots of instances where I've found myself telling me kids, "Trust me. If you do it this way it will work out just fine." They, of course, don't listen and have to go about doing things the hard way. But that's sometimes a good way to learn...as long as you do learn something from it.

I have said before that I am usually a naive optimist. I believe in and trust good people and good outcomes because that is how I operate. I've been burned more in the past 18 months than ever before and gotten pretty down about it, though. I still try really hard to believe in the basic goodness of people, so I want to trust the system and have faith that it will work as designed.

The problem I'm am seeing more and more often is that unless everyone has faith in the system and let's it work the way that it's intended, the process just won't hold up. 

Now I don't think that we should always be taking matters into our own hands and working in between the lines. That's anarchy and I don't think it's a viable system. I firmly believe that we should be looking out for those who cannot look out for themselves: children, the elderly, the infirm, etc. As a 5 foot tall woman, I'm pretty certain I don't come out on top of a "might makes right" scenario!

Looking back at history, I think there have definitely been times when people needed to take things into their own hands: the American Revolution, Rosa Parks refusing to give up her bus seat, many other historical options I am unqualified to cite because I suck at history! But I wouldn't call those people vigilantes. I would say that they stood up to unfair laws to prove a point. And history has vindicated their actions. 

I think that when there is a wrong to be righted, we have to try really hard to work through legal means first. After that has been proven not to work, then maybe it's acceptable to start exploring other options. I don't want to live in the Wild West where every body takes every thing into their own hands, and that's the image that vigilante justice brings to mind for me.

How about you? Do you think vigilantism is ever justified?

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap.

This week 13 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado http://www.BakingInATornado.com
Cognitive Script https://cognitivescript.blogspot.com/
The Blogging 911 http://theblogging911.com/blog
The Lieber Family Blog http://thelieberfamily.com
The Bergham Chronicles http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com
Simply Shannon http://shannonbutler.org
Southern Belle Charm http://www.southernbellecharm.com
Never Ever Give Up Hope http://batteredhope.blogspot.com
The Angrivated Mom http://www.angrivatedmom.wordpress.com/
Not That Sarah Michelle http://notthatsarahmichelle.blogspot.com
Bookworm in the Kitchen http://www.bookwormkitchen.com/
Part-time Working Hockey Mom http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/
Climaxed http://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com