The profound sadness of the Virginia Tech shootings defies words. I'm sitting in the newsroom and just looked through a stack of photos of the 32 victims. Just normal people, going about their daily routines, and suddenly a deranged gunman steps in and snuffs out their lives.
There is no sense to it and I will not try to find any. But the reactions of people since the massacre are too often misguided.
One thing, for example, is criticism of the media for showing the lunatics' videos, photos and screed that he mailed to NBC. They say that showing the photos and video will lead to copycat killings and glorifies the gunman. The sad truth is that any sicko capable of committing a copycat crime along the lines of the Va. Tech massacre is not going to be influenced by the rantings of the killer on video. The basic facts of what Cho Seung-Hui did that black morning are shocking enough. The video diatribe is extraneous. Nobody will be led to kill scores of people because of what Cho said; those who are walking such a thin line would be more motivated by Cho's deeds than his words. And with the advent of the internet, the video would be available to anyone who wants to view it. It's not the media's fault, although people are all too quick to blame the messenger.
It is one of the most horrific and shocking crimes of modern times. But the even sadder reality is that it is just one of many brutal and bloody outbursts perpetrated by deranged members of society. This one had more victims, but the scenario is all too similar to the tragedies at Columbine High School, the Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pa., Luby's restaurant in Killeen, Texas; Red Lake High in Minnesota; the McDonald's massacre in San Diego; the shootings at Dunblane, Scotland, and on and on... And we're not even getting into the 9/11 attacks or the Oklahoma City bombings. You can find a shocking list of massacres on Wikipedia here.
The reality is that our society has gotten so big, the pace of life is so fast, the pressures are so heavy, the lack of balance and spiritual grounding are so disorienting, that some people just cannot handle it. A little thing can cause a fragile person, already on the edge, to snap. With firearms readily available, mass murders are unfortunately a grim reality of modern life.
There have always been people who go berserk, but in the "old days" when people lost it, they got into fist fights or picked up a baseball bat. Now they pull out automatic weapons.
Unless we completely ban guns, or live in a lockdown society, there's no way that a 2,600 acre campus with 100 buildings like Virginia Tech can be secured against a rampage like Cho's. And even if guns were banned, some dangerous people will be able to get weapons.
In reality, we all know the shootings could have occurred at just about any U.S. campus. Or business. Or apartment complex.
We all need to be more alert to warning signs, like Cho's professors who saw the potential danger and tried to get him help.
I hope and pray -- seriously, prayer is essential, it's not just a cliche -- that there will be no more tragedies like the one in Blacksburg for many years to come, or many decades. But I won't be surprised if the next one happens too soon.
The bigger tragedy is that that rage and bloodshed have become all too common in the world today.
Toledo, Ohio April 21, 2007