April 16, 2007...a commentary

[Rob 311]

April 16, 2007...Black Monday
There are many dates in history that stand out for various reasons, a few good, but for the most part, very bad. April 16, 2007 will now forever be etched into our minds. Yesterday, as most everyone knows by now, a gunman took the lives of over 30 people on the Virginia Tech Campus in Blackburg, Virginia, just over the Kentucky border. This person also injured more than 20 people and left many others traumatically affected. And now we ask why...how...when again.

Not since the 1960's has the nation been riveted by such campus violence. Charles Whitman climbed a clock tower on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin and killed 15 people, wounding 31, before police shot him dead. Yesterday surpassed this act. Perhaps the reasons will never be fully known, many factors contributed, but only the gunman is the one who knew exactly why he did such a horrific act.

Some ask, "How did this happen," and honestly, there are no right or wrong answers. The fact is that it did happen. Again, many factors contributed to this violent act, only time will sort it all out. The focus should be now to take care of everyone involved and not point fingers so soon. Too often, we focus our attention away from those in need during a critical time and point fingers or say what could've been. There's a time and place for everything.

Finally, we ask, "When again?" Sadly, in this day and age, it will probably happen again. We just hope to be better prepared and try to stop the carnage earlier in the fight. Hopefully, everyone will take notice to something that seems just not quite right and let someone know about it. There's no way to predict when and where the next incident will happen.

In closing, I would like to interject some personal commentary on the state of the world as we know it. It seems that everywhere we look, there's violence. We constantly see images of war and destruction in the media and have become softened to it all. What would have sparked outrage at one time is now mainstream. Children's games are becoming more violent, the evening news is plastered with death and dismemberment, the attitude in general these days is a more aggressive tone. Freddie Mercury once sang,'Is this the world we created?' Sometimes I think so. We have created this monster of mayhem and said it's okay, that the beast will lay down eventually. But in reality, we do nothing more than place it's seeds into our being and sit back and watch it grow.

My heart goes out to those affected directly and indirectly in yesterday's tragedy. May you find some type of comfort in each other and your families during this time of need. The world sometimes don't make a whole lot of sense and can be quite cruel sometimes. We've just got to pick up the pieces and put them back together the best we can, and gradually move on, keeping the good memories of our fallen loved ones close to us. "Gone, only in body, but the spirit remains forevermore...."

[Luckier Lady]

You know, I appreciate you taking the time to type all of this out. It is a sad world we are living in at the moment...a world full of hatred...that only seems to be breeding more and more hatred.

It's sad. That's all I know to say about it.