A Conversation Story
George was again shaking his head back and forth in disagreement listening to Julie. They were at the wedding of Mary and Tom. George was married to Tom’s mother’ sister and Julie was Tom’s father’s sister, thus they were related by marriage. George and Julie had been together at many family occasions when, like now, after dinner when the drinks had been generously flowing, they got into discussions where they were rarely in agreement, and on occasion became quite heated. In spite of these disagreements they really liked each other. Perhaps it was their different temperaments, professions, ethnicities, religions, or childhoods that could explain their different world views, or more likely where they.obtained their information.
Julie was saying that she felt sick that a certain Ms. Smith had been charged with her brother of premeditated first degree murder of Mrs. Smith’s husband. George responded, “Smith and her brother made an unprovoked attack. The brother was waiting for him to return home with a gun. Come on Julie, how can you defend these two?”
Julie, quite calmly in this instance, replied “Actually George, I don’t disagree with you that she is guilty from the cursory account you know about. But I have studied the background information on the case based on a long article at IJKnews.com. The Smiths had been married for eight years. Very soon into the marriage the husband began dictating to Mrs. Smith from the major to the minutiae of her life. When she resisted he became violent. She sought help through counseling, social services, and the police. But he persisted in acts of violence and threats of more. In particular, he threatened her life if she dared divorce him. In this process she asked for the help of her brother. The occasions when he intervened the husband became violent with him. I should add that Mrs. Smith w
Article from LewRockwell
