BANG! BANG! BANG!

Newspaper articles tell the stories:

Fontana, California

MAN SHOOTS OWN THIGH AFTER MAKING THREATS

"A 22-year-old man was arrested on weapons charges after he accidentally shot himself in the thigh, Wednesday evening. …Further investigation revealed he arrived at his mother’s house and began waving a .22 caliber gun around while threatening to shoot anyone who called police. He shot himself in the right thigh after he placed the gun in his waistband."


Ankara, Turkey

TWO SOLDIERS GUN EACH OTHER DOWN AT GENERAL STAFF HEADQUARTERS

"Two soldiers on guard duty at the main entrance of General Staff Headquarters gunned each other down for reasons that are as yet unclear, the Anatolia news agency reported Sunday. The soldiers started arguing for an unknown reason…. Later they fired at each other. One has been hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the hospital. His condition is reported as critical. The other died at the scene."

Now there is nothing funny about guns when they are used in inappropriate ways. But when I read the first article in the newspaper I immediately remembered the second and dug the copy of it out of my files. I just couldn't help laughing.

I probably shouldn’t have done that, but except for the seriousness of the results of the latter shooting, both scenarios played out in my mind like something I might see in a very funny movie, maybe a movie like "Mr. Hulot's Holiday," in case some of you are old enough to remember that hysterical movie of the early 1950s.

But to mitigate my distress at finding anything funny in a shooting, I tell myself that while I am sorry that I am laughing at someone else’s misfortune I am happy to find something to laugh at to start my day.