Blood On Their Hands

by, Cassandra

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In the wake of something major the questions spin out of control. You wonder over and over again if there was something, anything, that you could have done differently. Could you have said something, did something, took a second look instead of just walking by... would any of it make a difference? It happened, the damage reeked can not be undone, no matter what is said, what is thought. Someone has to stand; someone has to take the fall for the events leading up to this tragedy.

No one had a clue... no one paid any attention. If they had known what was to come, would they have looked up? Would they have tried harder, been nicer? Hindsight is always twenty twenty. No one will know what could have changed this. No one will ever know what could have been done. They never thought this could happen to them. They were and still are invinsible... but only when it suits them. Right now they'll shed a tear, play the victim. Anything to keep the blame off of them.

They pretend to care, they pretend to feel, but it's all an act. Hollywood has nothing on these people. They'll make everyone feel for them, cry for them. They come across so innocent in the light of everything that has happened. But in reality, no one is innocent here. The perps and victims alike have a role in this. Whoever said that there is rarely an innocent victim knew what he was talking about. Anyone of them could have stopped this. But no one did anything besides making it worse.

They want to believe that they had nothing to do with this. They want to block out any thought of guilt in their minds. So they'll put the blame on someone else, and it'll spread. In times like this, there's never an innocent person because the blame is passed from one to another to another. It's a virus that'll keep spreading until someone has the guts to stand. Until someone takes the blame as their own, and pays the price for this injustice. But by then, it'll have all started again.

It's a cycle that will never stop. It'll keep spinning and the questions will keep building. No one will ever know, and no one will ever care. Life will go on, despite the damage caused. People will forget, and people will remember. It'll be buried until someone digs it up. And with it the blame will rise again. It's amazing to see the affect it has on everyone. No one seems to see, but it cuts deep. It's what caused this... and everyone is responsible.

You hear it everywhere, everyday. It may start out somewhat innocent, but it never ends up that way. One wrong word, one wrong ear, one more person hurt. Things get out of control so fast. It's like a train wreck, nothing it going to stop the inevitable destruction. The conclusion is foregone... someone is going to get hurt. Someone has to shoulder the blame. No one will willingly bear the burden. Words have a funny affect on people.

Looking around you'll see that everyone had a chance, had a way, to put a stop to this. Even if it didn't stop everyone else, they would have been free of guilt. The greater evil isn't relevant. Maybe no one in this room pulled the physical trigger, but words can be just as deadly. No one tried to cut off the flow of words, no one tried to quell the rumors. It grew and grew, till there was nowhere else it could go. This was the inevitable conclusion.

In a month or a week, someone will laugh about it. They'll find some impossibly microscopic shred of humor in this, and laugh. They'll forget the tragedy, forget the lives forever ruined, and focus on the non-humorous humor of this situation. The words the were uttered in fun, the words that resulted in tears, will once again flow with unforgiving laughter. Someone else will take the brunt of some ill-conceived joke. The lesson taught today will never be learned.

They'll never understand the pain they cause. Or fully know the damage behind the words. Even after someone fought back, not with words, but with deadly metal, they will not understand. Some aren't so bold, they'll never know. Some won't take a stand, some won't fight back. Some will cry, some will run. Some will take their fears and pain and tears out on themselves. They'll never know it, but they all have blood on their hands.