One of the phrases I’ve been hearing a lot lately is “didn’t deserve to die,” as in, even though Jacob Blake had a warrant for repeatedly raping a woman, he “didn’t deserve to die.”

Well, who does deserve to die? I can’t think of anyone who deserves to die. I guess you can come up with some extreme, heinous scenarios in which the perpetrator perhaps deserves to die that might challenge the assertion.

But really, who deserves to die? Who are we to judge? If you believe in God, or any version of God, you would believe that it will be up to God to be the final judge.

Jacob Blake appears to be a very bad man, and according to the police union report, the police were there because they were responding to a 911 call because of him. As we know, he fought with the police, guns were drawn, he was warned to stop, but he went for his car, where a knife was found.

Like George Floyd, who has a heck of a violent crime rap sheet, many people say about Jacob Blake, “but that doesn’t mean he deserved to die.”

And I think people agree. None of the heroes of the black lives matter (lower case) movement deserved to die. But nearly all of them actively created a situation that made it possible. Even Breonna Taylor, who was clearly innocent and had not even interacted with the police, still helped to create the situation by maintaining relations with a known drug dealer.

Again, this doesn’t mean she deserved to die. We don’t know yet, but it sure sounds like it was due to some very sloppy, and consequently deadly, police work.

If you go down the list of people who’s name we’re supposed to say, none of them deserved to die. But that’s about all they have in common beyond that.

Ahmaud Arbery, in my opinion, is probably the clearest example of blatant racism and a kid who did nothing to earn his fate. But then, there were also no police involved.

If you’re up to something that warrants the police being called in, you have to know that anything can happen. If you don’t want anything to happen, you can control the situation by not resisting arrest and cooperating with the officers.

I’ve been able to avoid this situation my whole life. But then again, I’m white, so police officers wouldn’t just come up to me and beat me or shoot me, the way they do with black people.

Numerically speaking, for every story of a black person being murdered who didn’t deserve to die, there’s a story of a white person killed by the police who also didn’t deserve to die.

But again, that’s the nature of engaging in activities that involve the police. If you’re doing something that might attract the police, you don’t deserve to die, but you have to know, you might. And if you insult, attack, or assault the police, you’re exponentially increasing your chances of being injured or killed.

Nobody deserves to die, but if you’re engaging in illegal behavior, and the police are called because of your actions, it was you who introduced guns into the equation. And when there’s guns around, doing what you need to do to avoid them being pointed at, or used on you should be your first priority.

My advice to everyone who finds themselves in this situation: don’t. But if you do, be polite and comply with the officer. Live to argue another day.