The last time Mercy’s Kill showed their faces, I blogged about the unrelenting anger we sometimes feel, and our inability to push through when it strikes. How, when you can’t get past it – or refuse to – it’s like chaining yourself to a sinking ship, anger securely fastening you to the bow. It’s something I’ve dealt with, something plenty of people I know have gone through, and something anyone can see in the current political situation here in the US. Now that Mercy’s Kill is back (and now that the Presidential election is getting even uglier), I look back at that metaphor, from a different angle. I want to talk about the other people on board the ship.

After all, a ship won’t sail for just one person. If you want to go hurtling over a waterfall in a barrel, that’s fine, but getting an entire boat there is a team effort. You can’t raise the anchor, hoist the sails, start the engines, and steer unless you have a crew. And if the crew stops working together, it doesn’t matter what the captain (Chained Anger Man or not) thinks or wants. The boat will be out of control.

James and Karrie are trying to take control of the boat, now that it’s been shanghaied by Mercy’s Kill. It may be James’ boat, but Mercy’s Kill isn’t happy with where he’s taken it, and no one’s willing to give an inch. And as they face off, no one is paying attention to the fact that the ship itself is about to go down with everyone on board. And who the hell could want that?

Well… maybe more people than you would think.

I can’t spoil what’s to come, but as an outsider looking in, it’s hard not to wonder why the unhappy factions don’t just find another ship and head somewhere else, instead insisting on taking the others with them. It’s why I’ve had issues talking about this ugly election process; After all the bickering and insults and calls to arms, no matter who wins, we’ll ALL need to share the ship with each other. We all need to work together to keep it from crashing, and yet, we are so sure of who’s “right” and what “has to happen”, that the schism has created a seemingly irreparable rift in the hull. And what’s even more frightening is…

I think some people don’t want to see the ship repaired. I think some people just want to see it go down, just to prove they were right.

And that doesn’t seem worth it to me.