mankind

I watched the movie "Casino" this weekend.  I had seen it before, but i like mafia movies, so i caught the last half of the movie.  Sharon Stone was all strung out, Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro weren't suppose to be seen together.  Joe Pesci's character "Nicky" is hard core, has no issue killing someone, and would do it in a heartbeat.  Everything fell apart, Sharon Stone overdosed, Robert DeNiro was almost killed when someone put a bomb in his car and Nicky went to meet some other mafia members in a corn field.  His brother had been causing some issues and Nicky thought he could smooth it out, little did he know that he was going to his grave.  They made him watch while they beat his brother with baseball bats, he begged one of the guys to stop while his brother was still breathing....they did, and started beating on him with the bats.  The mafia guys put Nicky and his brother in the same hole, they were bloody, striped down to their underwear, barely breathing, and they started covering them with dirt. 

When people show you who they are, believe them....

Robert DeNiro was very realistic about his situation.  Nicky was very confident when he arrived in the cornfield that he could fix the situation with his brother, the look of surprise when he was brought to his knees with the baseball bat and forced to watch his brother be beaten.  He cried and begged them to stop while "he was still breathing" has stuck with me for days.  This was a man that killed for a living, many people begging him the way he was begging for his brother's life.  I was surprised that the thought had never occurred to him that his life could be taken as quickly as he had taken others. 

As usual, i am probably putting too much thought into a fictional character, but it spoke to me about mankind.  If you run with killers, don't be shocked when they kill you next.