The news has been full of the terrible shooting at Virginia Tech and I just wanted to express my condolences to the families and friends of the victims, and everyone who had to witness this horrific event. I have seen a lot of evil in my lifetime, and yet I am still horrified and disgustedly astonished when this sort of thing happens.
I have linked to a New York Times article about the gunman, Cho Seung-Hui. I feel it is extremely sad and tragically regrettable that this person gave warning signals and was not helped or stopped before the killings happened. I mean, a roommate who wouldn't talk at all? Who just stared off into space? Who wrote extensively about violence in his creative writing? Yet it's hard to pinpoint these kind of people ahead of time...the description I just gave could cover any number of troubled people in the world who don't go off the deep end like this. I've heard there was also trouble with this student prior to the event, that he recently set a fire and stalked a couple of women. Why was nothing ever done?
Heartbreakingly, it doesn't surprise me. I know of a person who has had numerous police reports filed against him (by different people) over the years for stalking and harassment, and yet law enforcement does nothing about him. Still, he does have a paper trail of complaints, so at least that's something--yet what if this person snaps one day, too? I nearly want to be cynical and say, "Nothing was done because nothing is ever done, and 90 percent of the time, we see all the warning signs in retrospect." Even though I don't want to believe this, it feels this way to me today.
Evil acts will always be with us, so today has prompted me to try and think about my response to these things. And yet, right now, I have no answers, only sadness for everyone involved in this horrible, unspeakable tragedy.
No comments:
Post a Comment