The VT Shootings

Outside of the staff meeting, I guess learning disabilities, and particularly mental illness, has been on my mind lately. Especially with the awful tragedy at Virginia Tech. I first heard about the shootings from a friend who attended VT and invited me to join a sort of online memorial group (on Facebook) the day it happened. I think it hit him especially hard (on a personal level), being on his hold campus. I know I would be all the more stirred if it was St. Olaf – I can hardly imagine, although, that is part of what makes the whole situation so horrifying. Noone imagines it happening to them, and these were normal, everyday students that were killed. As details and news of the shootings rolled in, reactions in our community were universally pretty much shock, grief and dismay, but the actual news we received was mixed. While CNN.com was still reluctant to release information within the first 24 hours, news broadcasts in Japan were already reporting the number of Japanese exchange students on campus at the time and that the killer was a Chinese student (a day before we learned that he was, in reality, an American who had immigrated from South Korea – irresponsible journalism?). I didn’t hear much buzz about it from the staff at school (although I know they knew about it because it came up in one 3rd-year class), but the foreign community was pretty shook up. I guess there were subsequent bomb threats throughout America in the days following the shootings, with one threat closing down the University of Minnesota campus for a day (no surprise that administrators are more fast to respond to threats in the wake of the previous tragedy). I am not in America and have not had a chance to talk about it with my friends at home, but this event definitely brings back vivid memories of the Columbine shootings. I was in high school at the time, and our classes were cancelled for a day because of a bomb at our school threat shortly after the school shootings. It’s really sad, and even sadder that these things are still a reality. My heart goes out to all the family and friends of the people that died. Those students are not much younger than me, and I cannot even imagine losing my friends at such a promising, young age. I also feel bad for the shooter’s family. I can’t even imagine the guilt and pain they are feeling, even though they were not involved. I know the family structure is very close and strong in the Korean culture, so this was probably a huge shame and blow to all of them. From the statements they gave, it seems like they were completely shocked, even though other students suspected strange behavior. I read some of the plays that the VT shooter had written for a class, for example, (that his classmate had posted on AOL) and I can understand how his peers were concerned about him; it was some pretty disturbing material. I could go on, but I guess I just wanted to mention how sad the world really is about this horrible event and that my thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families. Maybe it’s naïve, but I honestly cannot see it happening in Japan; it’s a shame issue, which is interesting considering I don’t know exactly how different the South Korean culture is. I’m heading to Korea with my friends Joe and Brianne in two weeks, so it will be interesting to see if anyone brings it up; I certainly won’t. I feel like people are nervous to mention it to me here, so I kind of doubt it will come up there.