I should warn you right up front that this post is going to make some people mad. They will disagree and be upset and think that I must be a cold and heartless person.

I won’t take it personally.  I understand it’s just part of their victim mentality.

I should also tell you that I probably haven’t earned the right to talk about being a victim. I’ve had a pretty easy life. Yes, I’ve suffered loss and been victimized by crime. My brother was murdered and other people close to me have died too young, I’ve been robbed at gunpoint, multiple times. But even though I’ve been victimized I’ve never thought of myself as a victim. So I guess I just don’t get the whole victim thing.

It’s been a terrible week in Boston, 3 people killed and many more injured, some with life altering injuries. They will never be the same. Their lives will be different and that is not a choice they were allowed to make – they were victimized by a couple of loonies.

The choice they do now get to make however is this: will they be someone who was victimized for a time or will they become victims for a lifetime.

Same thing in West, Texas. A horrible week. More dead and injured, apparently in just a freak accident. Many more lives changed forever. But, a “victim” forever? Sorry, that’s a choice.

See, I told you some would get mad.

I don’t know about the rest of the world but I’m coming to the conclusion that in the U.S. it’s easier to be a victim than it is to be anything else. I know this because I heard it on the news, as “reporters” from both FOX and MSNBC spoke of the “millions” of “victims” created by the bombing in Boston. Millions? Really?

The only way millions of people become victims of the bombers in Boston is if they want to be.

Do we perhaps need to be more aware of our surroundings? Yes! Do we need to be more aware in large crowds? Yes! Do we need to consider ourselves “victims” because of this? NO!

We don’t get to decide whether or not we are victimized, there are just too many people and things outside of our control. We do however fully get to decide whether or not we will be victims, and for how long we will be victims. THAT is a choice. If you have been victimized don’t let someone or something victimize you a second time by robbing you of that choice.

There will be incredible stories of courage and triumph that come from the people victimized by the bombers on Boston. The people who create those stories will have done so by choice.

My fellow Americans, don’t listen to the media. These two maniacal idiots that set off the bombs in Boston can make victims for a time, only the people victimized get to decide if they will be victims for a lifetime.

Now, before you start to come completely unglued, I KNOW I’ve way over simplified a very complex issue. I know there are many layers to discuss here. I hope you’ll get the overall drift….continual victimhood is a choice. Taking someone else’s victimization and making it our own is also a choice.

Let’s make choices for the future, not the past.