I haven’t been able to post for a few days. My time has been consumed with a lot of tasks. I haven’t felt like writing either, because of the Virginia Tech shootings. Just from talking to friends, I get the feeling that we have a sense of weariness concerning these catostrophic events. We have become de-sensitized after 9/11, Columbine etc., for sure, but it seems that there is more to it. There is no rallying point. I don’t hear people saying, “We must stop this from ever happening again.”
This guy, this shooter doesn’t fit the profile. There is an old debate about whether these types of people are a product of their environment or, are they inherently evil? Either way, could we prevent it from happening again? The gun control argument falls flat on either side. I think that if you banned all guns, this guy would still find a way. He had this well thought out, it wasn’t like something happened and triggered a rage. He was a sociopath, selfish and wanted to do harm. More guns?, I keep hearing about how easy it is to buy a gun in Virginia but, evidently, no one had one that day. I realize that the campus was a “gun free” zone so, good people follow the rules. Cho Seung-Hui had a history of mental problems and lied about it on the paperwork when he bought the guns. Bad people don’t follow the rules. It is a circular conversation and tiresome. I am hearing now that he was influenced by a violent movie called “Oldboy”. I haven’t seen the movie. Do you think that he would have not done this if he didn’t see the film? Seems unlikely to me, I think these types are predisposed to do evil things but, I don’t know that for a fact, nobody does.
I have heard it said that we, as a society, don’t have the stomach to solve some of the problems that face us. I don’t believe that. Have you ever noticed that when someone gets sick, say, has a heart attack, people say, “no surprise, he smoked”, or “he ate too much”. People don’t like to own up to the idea that he may have just had a bad heart. They want to find something to blame it on. That brings them comfort; it’s a way of saying, “well, it won’t happen to me because… It takes more stomach to face a problem that can’t be solved, that you can’t blame on something. That takes resolve.
I have times when I don’t want to blame people, but I want to blame god. I usually let myself go for a bit and then I reign it back in. In growing up, owning up to my flaws and how I created them has been one of the hardest things for me to learn. In learning, and accepting, there has come a peace that eluded me for a long time.
Very well said.