Today, an armed graduate student walked into a lecture hall at Northern Illinois Univeristy and opened fire minutes before the class was scheduled to end. At last report, 12 people were injured, 5 were dead including the gunman who turned his gun on himself.
In America, this is an all too familiar scene. It seems that almost every other month someone, somewhere reaches the end of their tightened rope and takes out as many people as possible. And it's always with a gun.
For the next few weeks we will be inundated with debates over whether it was the act of a mentally unstable individual or the result of a country where getting a fire arm is all too easy. No doubt, anyone who would think to do this is mentally unbalanced in some way. And no doubt, it is far too easy to obtain a fire arm legally or otherwise in the United States. And we can stand on our Bill of Rights and Consistutional fortitude all we want, it won't bring those students back who were just taking in another day of classes on the road to their future. It will not ease the pain of those families who called the posted hotline numbers desparately seeking the news that their son or daughter was not a victim only to find that they were not the lucky ones, it will not ease the sadness of the family of the shooter who may or may not have known how troubled he was and who will never have the opportunity to tell him that there is help if he wants it.
Other parts of the world have the idea that we Americans are a very brutal lot. They look to the example of our government, most notably a President, who can glibly excuse the actions taken in Iraq and other coutries where we have chosen to use force rather than diplomacy. And when they see that every sixty days or so, one of us takes a shot gun and kills 10, 15 or 20 people - their perception of us would be right.
What the hell is wrong with us? Why are we so cruel and cold to one another to the point where it drives someone over the edge and into the dark oblivion? When did we stop caring so much for the simple decency of others that we are now so dissensitized to this? And, at the end of the day, are we too far gone to change? When is enough really enough?
2 comments:
the answers to this question is tough ain't it? is it how deeply based in fear our society has become?
i dunno, i just hope that more parents read to their kids. and teach them that love is stronger than a fucking gun.
You ask a good question and one that I have been thinking of for a while now... we are based in fear which we cover with bravado which leads to muted emotions and incidents like this. I think we've forgotten that we are all the same if only for our differences. When will we learn to celebrate those differences rather than fear them?
Post a Comment