...caught up and smashed him round the back of the head, he went down, i trip over him, belt him again and pin him down...
OK, devil's advocate time. How would you have felt if your smash around the back of the head had resulted in the death, or serious injury of the person?
....Hmm, in spite of my last post (Reply #51), on the specific point I quote from your post, I'm now thinking that I personally don't think I'd be at all upset if I seriously injured someone who had entered my property uninvited with the premeditated intention of stealing from me and possibly doing me physical harm in the process. If they accidentally lost their life as a result, I can't say I'd think it was my fault.
Hmm, I really expected more from you Robin. I know we all really work hard for our possessions, but that's all they are, possessions. And allowing our judgement to be clouded, to the point where the loss of human life is negligible is abhorable in my opinion.
....I'm just being very honest about how I
think I would react. I know that these are only material possessions but it's the
principle of someone very intentionally violating my peace which causes me to be so 'war like'. Knowing myself, I also already
know that I have a violent streak if prompted hard enough - It may not be what society judges as right but it's there and I'm not unique in this way.
I don't actually view human life as any more important than any other form of life - We are just another species. But my point is the
principle of being subjected to such events which are unprovoked personal attacks rather than defending the possessions themselves.
EDIT: I'd just like to make it clear that when I say "If they accidentally lost their life as a result, I can't say I'd think it was my fault", I mean truly an accident and not a case of 'accidentally-on-purpose'. In other words I wouldn't set out to take a life but if their life was lost, so be it.
