Monday, April 16, 2007

Horrible

I am horrified by the news of the shooting spree down at Virginia Tech. 33 dead. Jesus Christ. How is it possible that it happened in two parts? In the morning then two hours later? I guess we'll learn more as it happens.

I can only imagine the nightmare the parents of those dead kids are living in right now. It's all too much.

I'm not letting Ben out of his room until he's thirty. If you're not safe in the Virginia countryside then where are you safe?

6 comments:

Michael said...

We're not safe in a country that glorifies death for its kids by allowing them to play video games in which the goal is to amass as high a death toll as possible. Neither are we safe in a country that glorifies guns. But in Virginia, they're kill-joys: State law limits residents to just one gun purchase per month.
And we're not safe in a country whose foreign policy has made us the bully of the world, and where the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians is euphemistically dismissed as "collateral damage."
Hold on tight as we collectively slide into the toilet.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your comments yesterday.
I was pleased to see that the speakers at the end of the convocation talked about not worrying about grades but taking care of themselves. Our son remembered that he had to take a test online last night 30 minutes before it was due.
"Mom, I only got 4 out of 6 right". I told him not to worry, that I thought the last thing that the teacher was thinking about was test taking. It was nice to see that the university and I are on the same page.
I asked him if he wanted to come home as school is closed til Monday. He wants to be at school with friends and not around people asking him lots of questions. A wise choice I think especially since one of the professors that died was his former German professor, someone that he really liked. And if S1 needs to talk to someone they will be ready to listen to him and understand him better than I can.

east village idiot said...

Michael - we are on the same wave length.

jar - I can definitely see why he would have a need and a desire to stay with the people who experienced what he experienced. I felt that way during 9/11. When I think how there are people who loved their children as I love Ben - and that those children are dead tonight....jesus christ...it's madness.

Your son has the comfort of returning at semester's end to a wonderful jam making, honey producing, craft generating, book reading super mom who loves him like a rock.

Dr. Deb said...

Hey Evi,
I think it is a tragedy all around. I imagine everyone involved will second guess how they carried on during the events. What is important, I think, is not to judge and blame but to learn from this. I believe in my heart that the authorities involved had good faith. This issue here is what happened BEFORE. This young man had issues way before this massacre. I have hospitalized people without consent, having the police come to my office if necessary. I know there was an english professor who tried, but there are ways to make it happen. Anyway, I have a daughter and she won't go out till she's 30 either.

Peace,
Deb

JT said...

Horrible. Absolutely. Very everyone involved. It's also heartbreaking for me to imagine how horrible Cho's life was--what was going on for him internally in the months leading up to this. Can you imagine what his parents, who work at a drycleaners in the DC area, must be going through right now?

JT said...

I meant "for everyone involved."