The Virginia Tech killings: The deadly shooting rampage killed thirty three people and injured an estimated twenty more people.
I am grieving. Even though I have no connection with Virginia Tech, as a common citizen, I am mourning their loss. These were high potential people. I read on MSN that they came from all over the world. The profiles of the victims are here. One of them had survived holocaust, and heroically tried to prevent the gunman from entering the classroom, one of them had served in the military. Some of them were still in their teens, and some of them were married with children. There was a professor, an Indian by origin, who had won prestigious awards for teaching. By all accounts, these were amazing people, full of potential, and could have been such honorable, wonderful citizens of the world. No one would have ever thought that these people would be lost to them forever in such a violent fashion.
Did the gunman only claim the lives of the people who died? No, he has indirectly victimized hundreds of people, the families of these students, instructors and bystanders. He has even victimized his own parents and family. Earlier, when people thought of Virginia Tech, they thought of a great university, now it seems inextricably tied to memories of a massacre. The victims’ families must have had choices, they must have chosen Virginia Tech over all the other options they had. Do they now wish they had chosen differently?
There is a lump in my throat as I write this. I was thinking; what did these people do wrong? They were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Then it hit me: No, they were not. They were not at the wrong place at the wrong time. They were at the exact right place, doing the exact right thing they were expected to do. They were attending the classes they were supposed to attend, in the University they were supposed to be at. Some people are blaming the university authorities for not acting sooner. I don’t really blame them; these things are much clearer in hindsight. Looking back, of course there were countless things that could have been done to prevent this; the university’s prompt action would only have been the last thing in the chain of events that could have prevented this.
The entire blame for this must fall only on the gunman. I read here that he was a disturbed man, known to be a morose and angry person. He had been urged to go to counseling for his depression and he had refused. My opinion is that someone capable of such a bloodbath is not a depressed person, he is an evil person. I want the families of the victims to know that no excuses are being made for this evil man. Let us stop cloaking wickedness with psychological terms.
Right now, my heart is split in two: Complete hatred for this beast; and intense sorrow for his victims.
My eyes are brimming over; my heart is full of sympathy for the families of the victims, and for everyone who was even remotely touched by this mad rampage. If I can have this moment of inconsolable sadness for people with whom I have no connection, I can only imagine the sorrow of those whose loved ones have been taken away.
The greatest pity is that we are left with no redress, no way to assuage our distress, and can only wait for time to heal this wound.
