OPINION | PHILIP MARTIN: One of us

The lie is that it’s hard.

It’s not. It’s less than a twitch. Maybe four pounds of pull with your index finger. Maybe six pounds. A kid could do it. Sometimes they do.

Clutch your pearls if you like, but you’re capable of it. We all are. It’s disingenuous to pretend otherwise. There have likely been times when you were lucky not to have a rock in your hands. You’ve been scared and desperate, maybe you’ve found yourself in a hole without hope. For all your claims to gentleness, I wouldn’t put it past you.

I’ve known murderers. And with few exceptions, there is nothing special about them. Maybe what they all have in common is a lack of imagination, an inability to hold in their minds a vision of a better world tomorrow.