when we're very young
we're given a loaded gun
it's awesome, full of powerful possibilities
in the moment of possessing it
it's all consuming
the feeling of what it might do
overtakes us
we rush to pull the trigger

what happens next seems random
what happens next takes us by surprise
what happens next is personal

one gun shoots into the ground, doing nothing
another gun shoots into the sky, killing a bird
one gun shoots into the shooter's foot
another gun shoots into a person standing nearby
one gun shoots and hits a bull's eye on a distant target
another gun shoots into the head of the one holding it

only after we pull the trigger
is it possible to assess what has happened

we pulled the trigger on the loaded gun of life
but by then, it's too late to do anything about it