I very much doubt that anyone I know believes they would be sad or disappointed at living in a perfect World—in ideal circumstances at all times, as it were. The truth is, I’m not sure how long anyone would last in that world. To begin with, I know that my introduction to a perfect world would virtually immediately relieve it of its perfection. On top of this, I’m pretty sure that, were my version of perfection enforced, I would become very bored very fast. That being said, the first reality of life is that, we don’t get to do so in any case—at least not one we count perfect.

In fact, not only do we not get to abide in perfection, but the place in which we find ourselves would certainly be—at least by our own measure—quite distant from that “mark.”

Starting with this realization is important, because it allows us to see that there will people and things out there that are “less than ideal.”

Among those people, are folks who chose to live their lives committing a variety of infractions; some criminal in nature, some not.

For just a second, let’s talk about one group of such people, rapists.

If I hold with the idea that “no sin is greater than any other,” I would be inclined to count rapists no worse than any other sort of law-breakers. I have a hard time doing that myself (even though I have it on good authority that what I stated at the beginning of this paragraph is in fact, the case), and I don’t think I’m at all alone in that.

It seems to me that rapists—particularly strong men, who choose to rape weak women (with no implication that women are always weaker than men, or that this is the only kind of rapist)—are a pretty horrible lot of human beings.

Further, it seems to me that it’s entirely unreasonable to tell women (or men, if they are raped), that they are “responsible for” the act that has obviously been perpetrated upon them.

I think the majority of my fellows on the planet can agree with me upon what has been said to this point, and frankly, I think if they were to open their hearts and minds, they would find themselves agreeing with what follows as well.

Here’s where things get a little tough for a lot of people to take, though. The fact is, where it assuredly is not the “fault” of the person being raped, that how they dressed or acted caused the rapist to respond by raping them, the person having been raped may well have acted or dressed in ways that attracted the attention of the rapist. And as little as I like it, doing so may have made them into a “target” where that person is concerned.

Let’s be clear here, I can not even imagine having relations with a woman outside of marriage. I personally have no time for “casual sex.” I have even less time for forcing others into sexual activity against their will.

And the thing is, though those standards apply to me alone (that is, I cannot ask or expect others to abide by them, as they are crafted by me, according to my beliefs and intentions), I think almost everybody can agree with some part of my statements that indicate how I view sexual interaction. I think too, that they can count that part of my personal standards, to be reasonably codified into law.

To wit, I believe the average person would agree that unwanted sexual advances and activity by one or more parties towards two or more affected parties, should not be acceptable according to the law.

The problem is rapists don’t follow the law. They do what they desire, likely even being perfectly and completely aware that what they’re doing is incorrect.

To be “fair,” in this regard they are far from alone. Most people have a tendency to act in direct contravention with the law, and even with that which is morally or socially considered by the vast majority, to be right and proper.

But certain “crimes” are, rightly or not (and I’m not willing to argue the rectitude of such a thing at present), considered far more serious than are others. Rape is among the aforementioned, and understandably (correctly or not) so.

Here’s the thing though, if I walked down a street known to have an excessive problem with criminal activity on it, waving a stack of one hundred dollar bills and yelling, “I have all this money and no idea what I should spent it on.” Would anyone be surprised if someone decided I was a good target for robbery?

Would it matter even for a moment that my taking the actions I have talked about, “Shouldn’t cause me to be a target of aggressive action on the part of others?” I’m sure just about everybody would be strongly inclined to argue this was not the case. The simple reality is, when you have folks around you who are inclined toward breach of law, if you present them with ready targets, you probably ought not be surprised when they “take advantage.”

Being crystal clear, by no means am I saying even a little bit, that they cannot be blamed, held accountable, and punished for their actions. Even so, making oneself a target is not a wise expenditure of time or effort. This is true even if that was not the intent of the person having made him or her self a target.

Again, in saying this, I do not mean even that those having perpetrated crimes on others who feel they can state that they were “provoked,” should necessarily be more lightly dealt with than those who seem to be able to provide no provocation.

Further, am am not saying that the supposed “provocateur” is somehow guilty of even inspiring, much less directly causing the attack.

Takeaway? The World is the World, those in it are those in it. You won’t stop the World from being what it is, or the people thereon from being who and what they are. One thing we can do though, is at least try to not provoke those who will act inappropriately.

Okay, out of time and space. As such, allow me to wish you the best of times, and thank you for reading.