I’m sure many are angry right now, not just at the gunman but at VT as an institution. There have got to be so many “why” questions it would take a hundred years to answer just a few. The main “why” question I’ve asked is “Why did it take two hours before the shooting stopped?” and “Why was there a delay in response from the first two killings until the other shootings started?” Two hours is a long time. Neither Virginia Tech nor the police can give a suitable answer to me but I do have a suggestion that may curb some of the deserved criticism. Offer traditional and non-traditional therapies free of charge to students and faculty that request it. It was the gunman that pulled the trigger but it was the delay that gave him time to take more and more lives. Virginia Tech, you can’t give the lives back but you can do everything in your power to do right by the survivors.
The media seems to give many details about the gunman’s life. Even though it is clear that this man had severe mental health issues I can’t say I’ll offer him my sympathies. Having a mental illness myself seems to make my heart sad for him because I know how it feels to be a prisoner of your own mind. BUT at this point the tragedy is no longer about him but about the innocent people who became victims of a disturbed man and those who watched these slayings helplessly. Instead of all the background on “who was the shooter at Virginia Tech” why not stick to the innocent lives lost and the lucky to be alive. Who were the students lost? Who was in the classrooms with them? What are their names, their backgrounds, their goals, their likes and dislikes? Yes, the gunman’s background can be studied so that we as a society can recognize behaviors that could result in tragedy but we can’t do this in place of recognizing the losses we’ve suffered.
Understanding mental health and mental health disorders is important, it’s key to understanding behaviors. But at this point, after this tragedy, I’m far from interested in his exact diagnosis. I’m far from interested in seeing him tote guns in a barely audible video. And I’m far from interested in knowing how he lived his life before the day he brought a gun on campus and changed the history of this country. Tell me who the people are that died. Make them more than victims. Let them be people and not numbers. So far, this tragedy is mostly about the gunman but he wasn’t the only person on campus that day. Tell me about the survivors, about the deceased. Make them real to me and to anyone else who might for one second think about taking a life. It has been said that in a hostage situation if the criminal sees the hostage as real then they are less likely, not unlikely but less likely to kill them. So make the people that were killed real to us and to the potential gunmen out there. Do this right Virginia Tech and stop showing me the face of one man who can not offer me any answers or offer me anything but animosity towards the media, the state of Virginia and its response teams. When I see his face I am angry at him and then it moves to why didn’t Virginia Tech move faster you could have saved some of those people. But I don’t want to have to revert to such phrases as “those people.” So I ask you to make them real to me and to potential gunmen around the world.
Austin of Sundrip Journals
Questions About Virginia Tech Shootings
Saturday, April 21, 2007-1:18PM EST
Not to be aggravating with my response, hope you don’t take it that way.
I don’t blame the Tech security forces. When the first killings happened they assumed, based on what little they could discern at the time, that those murders were possibly a murder/suicide. There were no signs (from what I’ve read) that those murders were just the beginning of the rampage that would occur two hours later. How can they be expected to stop something they had no clues was to happen?
It takes some time to discern that a murder/suicide did not occur, but a murder, yet even with that knowledge most murders do not go on to become mass murders. (sorry, not very clear here).
I do think information about the first murders should have been made available more quickly.
.
.
.
Hi Ann,
I didn’t see your comment as aggressive at all. It was an answer to my question, why did it take two hours. You said it was because they thought it was a murder suicide not the beginning of a rampage. So nope, I didn’t see this as aggressive. I hadn’t heard about why the delay.
Thanks for your comment,
Austin
PS. I still very much want to know about the people that lost their lives and nothing more about the one who took them. For the record, I understand simply from looking at the man that he had serious mental health issues and being a multiple I understand what it feels like to be trapped in your mind. Even though I understand he was seriously mentally ill I have to move beyond that because at this point it no longer matters. Living, not hurting people, it would matter a great deal to me, his suffering. But not now. I can’t say I hate him but I will say I feel nothing for him. And I hope people can stop making it about him when there is so much more to this situation than the shooter. It’s kind of like in Washington when the two maniac snipers killed so many people. We heard all about their lives but very little about the people they killed. I would like to see the media turn around from gore to information that doesn’t drive people away from the TV come 11PM.
I agree Austin. When the victims are real to you, it hits you harder and deeper and makes this tragedy very much more real. Yes, I still suffer from the Nickel Mines tragedy. Some of the families of those girls were family friends.
.
.
.
Oh yeah, you are out there aren’t you! Man and then to have the Amish thing happen. There has been little time for you to recover from anything.
Austin
I couldn’t agree with you more Austin. I want to hear about those that lost their lives in innocence. Tell me of their stories of hope and plans for the future, the shooter obviously had none. I have to believe in those 32 lives that were lost there are some beautiful stories, stories that would inspire us all.
.
.
.
The news seems to report death every single evening. A baby was microwaved by his mother. A baby was stabbed in the back and thrown from the moving vehicle with the knife in his back. Instead of just breaking up with his girlfriend the guy kills her then cooks her on the grill. A man kills his wife and then cuts her in pieces to dispose of her. Why on earth do I want to watch the news? They go into detail about the killer but give so little info about the person who was killed. Here in Indy the man that started Save-A-Lot ended up killing 10 men and burying them in his yard. Do I know the names of one of his victims? Nope, but every time I go by a Save-A-Lot I think about how a local serial killer started that store and about how the bar he chose his victims from could be seen right outside my apartment window. Crime comes too close to home and that is when neighbors begin to reach out to each other. It seems to take a tragedy before people start coming together. I’d like to see that change.
Perhaps someone should write a book about the lives of the 32 that were killed, about what they wanted to do, about their goals and achievements, set backs and stagnant times. The stupid stuff they did as kids, mistakes, successes and all of that. They have become a part of history (a horrible part of US history) so can we know who it is that is part of this history instead of just knowing them as victims?
I do however, believe it is important to write about the shooter and his background (especially the part about mental illness) because he too is part of this worst mass killing in US history but never again do I want to turn on my TV and see his face. I’d like to put a face to the victims.
Austin
you see we have a problem its quite simple, guns are allowed people die, get rid of guns people live. When we heard the news we like many friends over here went what again what a surprise, guns have bene outlawed here without a permit for over ten years since a mssacre in tasmania and we havent had one since.
Jusrt wish ameica would realise arming people kills people why wont they hear sadly shakes head and walks away
.
.
.
America has this thing called the right to bear arms but that part of the Constitution often comes back to bite its citizens.
Austin