The Kyle Takeaway

You play with AR; you will get burned!

Every photo I saw of Kyle Rittenhouse during his trial—every photo— revealed a kid who was in over his head, a kid who was clueless about the dangerous fray he was walking into when he sauntered out, that fateful night in Wisconsin, looking for a fight.

That assault weapon in Kyle’s hand was no child’s toy. Kyle learned that lethal truth the hard way. He came damned near to a prison sentence. You could see it on his face—just how close he was to a prison sentence, or worse.

Deer in the headlights.

But then a jury delivered him. The look on Kyle’s face revealed: a kid in over his head.

You play with AR: you will get burned.

Kyle was in over his head when he left his home on that fateful night with a lethal assault weapon. 

Kyle was in over his head when his first victim’s death provoked a  a mad reaction from people who were nearby.

Kyle was in over his head when his second victim’s death provoked more mad reaction from people who were nearby.

Kyle was in over his head when his third victim’s injury provoked more mad reaction from people who were nearby.

Kyle Rittenhouse was in over his head when he found himself to be a national spectacle as defendant in a court of law. 

Kyle Rittenhouse was in over his head when he was acquitted of killing three human beings, even though he knew he had killed them.

And gotten away with it.

Kyle Rittenhouse will still be in over his head when he becomes a tool of the rising fascists who are presently conspiring to take over the republican party and ultimately to take over this country. 

Reminds me of a verse from the prophet Daniel (11:38): "(they) will honor, instead, the god of forces.  

By Force . . . the force of bullies, bullets, thugs, clueless pawns with lethal weapons in their hands . . . our republic will be shaken to its core until the foundations of this republic crumble. . .unless we can turn the trend of treachery around.

Kyle’s victims in Kenosha were as deer in the headlights.

Now he is the deer in headlights—but not the headlights of hunters spotlighting wild game. 

The lights on Kyle now are the lights of a hyped-up media frenzy, which amps up, even more intensely, demanding an explanation of what the hell is happening in this country, this country where two activists who thought they would be heroically stopping an “active shooter”— Rosenbaum and Huber became, instead, the fatal victims of a clueless kid who wandered into a firestorm of political warfare with an assault weapon, the lethality of which he had no comprehension. He probably saw himself a vigilante in a Kenosha video game. But Kyle had to learn the hard way:

You play with fire; you will get burned!

Kyle Rittenhouse may grow up soon. He may mature beyond his deer-in-the-headlights cluelessness.

 Maybe Kyle will find deliverance, having been through the fire. Maybe he will rise above the depths of depravity that conspire to entrap him in their fascist fanaticism.

Maybe he will no longer be in over his head; maybe Kyle will see the light of confession and repentance.

Maybe Kyle will see the light, take the middle ground, seeing both sides of this tragic divide that tears our nation apart.

That’s what I saw in ( the photo of) Kyle’s face at the moment of the verdict— a kid who knew that he had received mercy when he knew he should have gotten severe judgement.

May he grow in peace.

Glass half-Full