April 30, 2007
Shattered Records and
Shattered Lives.
Vol. 2 Issue
8
The Guinness
Book of records updates their volume every
year. It contains records of just about
everything imaginable. You can find names
like Hank Aaron who shattered the ‘Babes"
home run record and the names of some
obscure middle America group of local bakery
ladies who may have produced the largest
chocolate chip cookie in the world. I am
sure that somewhere in that book you can
find a 1,000-pound pizza. Records come and
records go. However, the one record that I
never wanted to see shattered was the one
that was broken in Blacksburg, Virginia this
past week at Virginia Tech University. It
was the largest mass murder in the United
States. Prior to this merciless maddening
slaughter the record for persons killed, if
you discount the attack on 9/11, was the 23
persons who were killed in 1991 in Killeen,
Texas; innocent people just dinning in a
cafe.
It was a day like any other day. Alarm
clocks were beeping, showers were running,
last minute notes were being written or
reviewed for the day to come. There were
also a myriad of other tasks that were being
performed, all part of daily college campus
life.
Within seconds, shots rang out taking the
lives of two people. A young college co-ed
and resident assistant lay dead on the floor
of the dormitory of Virginia Tech
University. The campus that boasts a
population of close to 26,000 students is
larger than some cities and towns in
America. At first, it appeared that this
might just be another murder-suicide; only
when campus police and local law enforcement
personnel arrived there was one key piece of
evidence missing in the puzzle--the murder
weapon. Officials at the school made the
decision at that time not to lock-down the
school and cancel classes. It appears that
they believed that the person who
perpetrated the crime had left the campus
and was long gone. It now appears that he
did just that. But only to stop at a local
post office to send off his murderous
manifesto. What else did he stop for before
returning to the campus? More ammunition or
the second gun, perhaps.
Two hours later the shooter emerged once
again. This time in an academic building
where he chained the door behind him and
went on his second murderous rampage. When
it was over about twenty minutes later, 30
more persons lay dead and over 15 others
were injured, either by the gunman or as
they tried to escape the carnage by jumping
out of windows. In one case a notable
scientist, Liviu Librescu, 76 a holocaust
survivor who was teaching his class,
barricaded himself against the door to allow
his students time to escape through the
windows. He was shot dead through the door.
However, not before he saved countless
lives. I can only imagine what was going
through his mind at the time. Do the words
"Never Again" sound familiar? Was this his
way of paying back America for freeing him
from the death camps of Nazi Germany?
When it was over thirty-two persons were
brutally slaughtered. The gunman, who was
later identified as Seung-Hui Cho, a
23-year-old senior student then took his own
life by shooting himself in the head, which
raised the death toll to thirty-three.
It is inconceivable for me to imagine what
feelings these students parents and faculty
spouses were experiencing as they
desperately tried to reach their loved ones
when they first heard of the shootings. It
is unimaginable for me to feel their grief
when they found out that their son,
daughter, wife or husband were lying amongst
the carnage. My heart goes out to them and
they will be in my prayers.
The media frenzy started immediately. It was
like a swarm of bees looking for a hive.
Reporters and camera crews were on the
campus within minutes-even before ambulances
responded to attend to the injured and dead.
Major networks were scrambling to get their
reporters on the scene as fast as possible.
I can only imagine how many private jets
from metropolitan areas around the country
were chartered to get their crews to
Virginia in record time. It did not take
long for the play-by-play commentary to
start. The speculation began immediately.
Why didn't the President of the school lock
it down after the first shooting? Who was
the shooter? What was his motive? There were
several speculative answers to that
question.
I will not Monday morning quarterback the
administrations decision not to lock down
the campus earlier. Would it have saved the
lives of the victims or would the shooter
have taken another route to another building
maybe raising the death toll even higher. I
will not speculate on the reasons why this
happened or whether or not it could have
been prevented. Those questions will be
answered in due time. Perhaps they will be
answered in the manifesto that the shooter
mailed to the NBC network. This sick twisted
individual who unfortunately was allowed to
roam free amongst his fellow students and
society may have answered all the
speculative questions for us.
However, there is a question that I must ask
of you.
I want you to stop and think for a minute.
Were you shocked or surprised when you first
heard the news of the shooting? If you
answer the question truthfully, you may find
yourself believing as most people I asked
who said, "No I wasn't shocked." It was only
a matter of time before it happened again.
And, it will probably even happen again. I
was not shocked either. School violence it
seems, has been happening much too often to
shock me anymore.
Since 1996, in America forty students have
been killed and dozens more wounded in
school violence. Guns are too readily
available. I will not go into the merits of
gun control because it really does not
matter. If you criminalize possession of a
gun only criminals will have them. Let us
leave that argument on the back burner for
now. If it wasn’t a gun it may have been an
explosive device or arson. Does it really
matter what the weapon of choice is. It is
the deed not the weapon.
What I want to discuss is how hardened we
have become. Yes, we feel for the victims
and their families. However, what do we do?
We complain and shout at our radio's and
television sets when the news continually
reports every detail because we are tired of
looking at it. Well my friends, look at it,
brand it in your minds and let’s start doing
something about it. I was first shocked at
the Oklahoma City bombings and shocked when
the Columbine shootings occurred. However I
started to become hardened to it. We all do;
we go on with our lives and are not affected
by it unless it hits home.
The one incident that took the hardness out
of my soul was the shootings in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania. When a 32-year-old truck
driver brutally executed five Amish girls I
was shaken to my inner core. The Amish
people are the symbol of everything that is
good about America. Their simple way of life
is what America was all about, family and
tradition; something that seems to be
missing in American family values today. If
we don’t get back to it soon we may all be
asking the question soon. Who and where
next?
We are quickly becoming a secular society.
Religious values have been cast aside. The
value systems that I grew up with are gone.
Today in the name of Political Correctness
when a tragedy happens the first thing we do
is send in the Psychologists. How about
sending in a Priest, Rabbi or Minister who
have probably counseled more people about
death than any psychologist I know. But the
ACLU is telling us we must keep God out of
schools. You can’t justify death with
medical textbooks but you can with spiritual
beliefs in understanding right from wrong.
Perhaps if Cho had some spiritual beliefs
and a respect of God he may have chosen a
different path that morning.
It is time to get outraged and take action.
Political correctness may be responsible for
the carnage in Virginia this week. You see,
Seung-hui Cho was allowed to buy a gun
because his unstable psychotic medical
condition and court ordered presence in a
psychiatric facility were not known by the
gun dealer. In the name of political
correctness and privacy no one knew except
his psychiatrist and the judge who ordered
him into treatment and they couldn’t tell
anyone without violating his rights. What
about the rights of the thirty-two students
and faculty who only wanted to peaceably
receive and impart knowledge. What about the
shattered emotional lives of their families
and friends that were trampled on that
fateful morning. When will the madness end?
And, that is my opinion.
Michael Solomon
If you want to
help restore sanity to America, join the
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