I’m not so sure I can really understand the ability of a man to kill 30 people, all in one morning. And I’m not going to even discuss how the university could have allowed a gunman to stroll from one dorm to a completely different building and more murder. It’s just too much to really understand, I think.

But it’s scary. It’s different from assault or the kinds of violence you’re always warned about. Don’t walk outside alone late at night because a man might rape you. Don’t listen to your iPod when you’re outside jogging by yourself because you’re distracted and someone will take advantage of that. Don’t walk around in the big city when no one’s around to notice you. That all makes sense.

But what do you do about something that’s completely random, completely life-threatening, and (sort of) unheard of? Do you suddenly become overcautious? Or do you try to continue living your life? I’d say you continue doing what you were doing in the first place, but how cold is that? Not even a thought to the people there, broken pieces of families and friends lying on the ground of a linoleum-tiled classroom that is, at best, supposed to provide learning and, at worst, boredom? “At worst” shouldn’t ever have to be “and maybe we’ll lose a few students this year.” No, that shouldn’t be it.

And talking about it won’t do much, anyway. The man is dead. But aren’t there other people who would, for some twisted reason, kill so many others? Do they live nearby? What do we do about it? What can we do about it? Perhaps this helplessness is something that we need to learn to live with.

Why would we want to do that?

Posted on April 16th, 2007 by Joy
Filed under: College, News, Uncategorized