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Sara Hood
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Sarah Mogin
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2007-07-31
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News | Sarah Mogin
Wednesday night, students and faculty gathered by the Fence. In the midst of the cold and windy weather, 70 hands cupped 70 flickering flames as the Carnegie Mellon community mourned the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre.
Last Monday, 23-year-old Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho killed himself and 32 others in the deadliest shooting executed by a single person in United States history. The attacks occurred in a dormitory and an academic building, both located on the Virginia Tech campus.
The vigil by the Fence is only one example of the ways in which colleges and universities nationwide are coming together to honor those slain.
"Students totally took the lead on creating this opportunity to express themselves after the Virginia Tech shootings," said Jonathan Kroll, housefellow for Morewood Gardens. "I think it definitely helps with the grieving process."
The vigil began at 9 p.m. with a moment of silence. As the group grew in number, participants continued to light the candles of those who gathered along the periphery of the crowd.
Student Body President Karl Sjogren passed out lyrics to to "Lean on Me" and the group then joined in song. After that, students and faculty members, one of whom was an alumna of Virginia Tech, took turns speaking informally.
Two hours earlier, the Hillel Jewish University Center (JUC) of Pittsburgh hosted a vigil led by rabbi Jamie Gibson of Temple Sinai.
Gibson led those attending in song and prayer, and students read prayers as well. During the vigil, Gibson gave personal attention to each of the departed.
"We knew that we wanted to read the names of every single person whose name had been released," said Sahar Oz, the JUC's assistant director. "And we also wanted to say a few things about them."
Students lit candles for each of the known victims: Liviu Librescu, a 76-year-old Holocaust survivor; Reema Samaha, an 18-year-old first-year; Kevin Granata, a biomechanics researcher and a leader in his field; and 26 others.
The group also lit three candles for the victims whose names had not yet been released.
Oz found Librescu's death particularly troubling. Librescu, a professor at Virginia Tech, was shot while protecting his students by guarding the entrance to his classroom.
"He was murdered on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is an occasion observed around the world," Oz said. "It sent shock and a tremendous sense of loss to the Jewish community."
The tragedy resonated in particular with several Carnegie Mellon students in the JUC who met Virginia Tech students last May while on a Birthright trip to Israel.
"One of the things we did immediately was try to reach the eight students who went on this trip from Virginia Tech," Oz said. All eight were unharmed.
"We had that added element of emotional proximity," Oz said.
The modern languages department is also making plans to reach out to Virginia Tech, in part because so many of the shootings took place in foreign-language classrooms.
"We feel closer," said Sono Hayes-Takano, a Japanese professor.
"We've been brainstorming," Hayes-Takano said. "People in MLSAC, [Modern Languages Student Advisory Committee], they're thinking about raising money for [the victims'] memorial fund."
Beyond the campus community, the Internet has helped many feel connected to the Virginia Tech victims.
"I think the Internet in this case has been a tremendous asset," Oz said. "I think Facebook is a great example."
Profiles of victims on Facebook, in addition to those on news sites such as CNN and BBC News, have helped humanize the tragedy.
"We don't want these victims to become statistics," Oz said. "Keep it personal."
But with such accessibility, fear is often not too far behind.
"There is this sense of, 'It could happen to me,' " Oz said.
Students feeling vulnerable might benefit from becoming familiar with Carnegie Mellon's security policy.
"We have trained a certain number of people ... in every building," said Madelyn Miller, director of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) at the university.
RAs, building marshals, and other qualified individuals are among those who have received training, she said.
EH&S has had a system called AlertNow in place for the past couple of years. AlertNow enables EH&S to make 5000 phone calls in about a minute, which could help alert floor marshals of a campus emergency.
"Not everybody knows that we have these procedures in place," Miller said.
In the past, EH&S's procedures were kept online behind a firewall. The procedures were privatized because they included the cell phone numbers of various staff members, in addition to the locations of hazardous materials throughout campus.
After Virginia Tech, EH&S decided to make the procedures available to the public — without the information regarding cell phones or hazardous materials.
Carnegie Mellon's urban campus is an asset in the event of an emergency, Miller said. The university is within close reach of city, county, and state police.
"I think it makes us safer," she said.
Moreover, RAs are trained to recognize suspicious students, which could help prevent a future incident, Kroll said. Concern from other students is often cause for immediate action.
"Undoubtedly, we take that very seriously," he said.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://www.thetartan.org/2007/4/23/news/va_tech>The Tartan - April 23, 2007</a>
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Shawn Wertz <swertz@andrew.cmu.edu>
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How Carnegie Mellon is keeping campus safe after VA Tech massacre
campus safety
cmu
grief
vigil
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Sara Hood
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Anonymous
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2007-08-14
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By:Anonymous
Posted: 4/17/07
On one of the most celebratory Mondays on Boston's calendar -- a day when students forget about classes and hit the streets for a citywide party -- the Virginia Tech campus was in shock and mourning.
In the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, a gunman murdered 32 community members and wounded 15 others before taking his own life yesterday.
This page can barely begin to express its deepest sympathies to the Virginia Tech community. When Boston University loses any one of its members, the campus has a difficult time recovering. To lose 32 community members in fewer than three hours is unimaginable.
The most frightening element of this tragedy is that it was virtually unpreventible. No matter how much money a university pours into its security plan, no matter how often safety procedures are rehearsed, little can prevent a suicidal gunman from going on a rampage.
This mass murder is part of the violence this country has been forced to become accustomed to. Many may not consider Monday's shooting an act of terrorism, but that is exactly what it was. Ever since Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher in Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, this sort of terrorism has been part of our reality.
But that doesn't remove the distress and pain felt after it happens. Blacksburg, Va. may be more than 700 miles from Boston, but the emotions still hit close to home. College students have a connection to universities across the country. Most students know someone, or have a friend of a friend, or have some other tie to Virginia Tech.
Even if students don't have these personal connections, they have the bond of being college students -- going to class, sleeping in late, going out on weekends and being close to friends. And sadly the thought about the possibility of a gunman coming into their classrooms and opening fire is a concern that crosses many students' minds. But no one can possibly fathom what this horrific experience would actually feel, sound or look like. Hopefully, most never will.
Virginia Tech will likely never fully recover from what happened yesterday. Coping with the most destructive shooting this country has ever seen will be a slow and seemingly impossible task. Though it may sound insincere or contrived because it will be so difficult, this message isn't meant to be such: We wish the speediest recovery to the Virginia Tech community.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2007/04/17/Opinion/Editorial.Consoling.Virginia.Tech-2846306.shtml>The Daily Free Press - April 17, 2007</a>
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Matt Negrin <editor@dailyfreepress.com>
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EDITORIAL: Consoling Virginia Tech
boston university
grief
opinion
sympathy
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Anthony Galanos
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2007-06-24
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By: Anthony Galanos
Posted: 4/20/07
The media coverage of the tragedy at Virginia Tech is rewarding insanity and complicating grief. But there are 32 families, and an entire university who are grieving. Not sad, not upset, not disgruntled... but GRIEVING. And how we treat them in this critical period will determine how they cope now and what the legacy of this past week will be for them.
Almost as sad as the loss of life is that this American culture acts like it knows not what grieving is. You want to see grieving, find any child 10 years of age or younger and watch them after their dog or cat dies. It is not a profound concept; it does not require a degree in philosophy or theological training. It is a natural process, common to all humanity. Why we ignore it or complicate it, I do not know, but to accent anything at this raw moment but the grief of the people involved is to confuse them-no, is to use them and to make their journey more complicated and more traumatic than it already is. If my 18-year-old daughter were shot and killed in her dorm, and the only way it was described by her college president was as a "domestic situation" because they thought she had dated the shooter, I would be outraged. I would wonder why this man or woman was on TV and not acknowledging my loss. I would wonder why a famous news anchor is blaming him for police matters (my assumption is that most college presidents know little, if anything, about police work) when I just lost my daughter. And, if the task of losing my child were not difficult enough, then I would have to cope with the media, stating without any evidence whatsoever, that perhaps my daughter's life "could have been spared". Now, and forever, that "what if" question would dominate me. It was not random or the product of psychosis. It was someone's fault, or so say the pundits. What would have been a normal grieving process, is now complicated. I was not afraid to grieve, but my grieving may have no end point.
As a clinician, let me pronounce, just like the talking heads on TV, that you have no right to comment on my loss. Indeed, unless you have every fact available, know without doubt how and why it happened or I abdicate it to you... you have no right to judge or comment on my loss. That right does not belong to Matt Lauer or NBC or my priest. It belongs to me and my family. She was ours, not yours. Neither your camera, your microphone or your best intentions allow you to take this moment from us. We teach doctors in training how to deliver "bad news." We have learned that such moments belong to patients and families, not to us. And that our simple presence there, however silent, is more powerful than our explanations of physiology or what went wrong.
Cannot we just say "let us let the grieving begin" and we can sort out the details when all of the data are in... and the facts are known? Can we not just let the students at Virginia Tech and the families, just tell us about the people they lost. Who were they? What were they like? How do you want us to remember them? This would be the line of questioning that would let any healing have any chance of taking hold. Can we not simply acknowledge that this moment is theirs, not ours or that of the media? Who was not touched by the dad being interviewed who said at the end of the segment that his daughter's body had not yet been released to him or his family, and that they wanted to see her. The interviewer asked him what he would do if he could see his daughter, almost puzzled by why this guy was asking to "see my daughter." He responded, "so that I can kiss her face." Is that not grieving? Is that not how this man will cope and heal over time? Do we not instinctively know what he is saying? Of course we do, and parents all over America hugged and kissed their children this week. How many phone calls did Duke students receive from parents this week? For some reason, we often wait to express our feelings for one another at the end, on the "death bed," but this man's open grief spurred us to action in the moment. Indeed, "why wait?"
This should not just be the purview of doctors, chaplains and counselors. This belongs to all of us, all of humankind. Put grief on the front page, and let the culture of blame do its bidding on the back pages, whether it is Virginia Tech or Iraq. Wherever there is loss of life, particularly of the magnitude of this past Monday or every Monday in Iraq, let us learn how to grieve and how to allow the families involved to grieve. Do not ask me who is to blame, or whether my child could have been spared. Ask me who my child was and then just sit there and be quiet. I will share with you that I need to kiss my child one more time. I will grieve.
Do not let the media, however well intentioned, teach you how not to grieve. You already know how.
<i>Anthony Galanos, Trinity '75, works at Duke University Medical Center in the Department of Medicine and the Palliative Care Service.</i>
--
Original Source: <a href=http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/04/20/Columns/Put-Grief.On.The.Front.Page-2871376.shtml> Duke Chronicle - April 20, 2007</a>
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David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
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Put grief on the front page
duke
grief
media
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Sara Hood
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Barbara Rodriguez
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2007-08-14
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<b>BU assessing safety, mental health concerns</b>
By: Barbara Rodriguez
Posted: 4/18/07
Boston University officials are still assessing how Monday's deadly shootings at Virginia Tech will prompt any changes in BU's security and mental health services.
Officials will be monitoring the campus "climate" during the next few days, speaking with the Office of Residence Life and other departments that work with students, said Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore.
More than 100 BU community members gathered on Marsh Plaza yesterday afternoon at a candlelight vigil to remember the victims, many of whom were Virginia Tech students and a few professors.
Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old Virginia Tech senior from South Korea, shot and killed 30 people in an academic building around 9:15 a.m., two hours after he killed two students in a residence hall Monday morning on the Blacksburg, Va. campus. Cho injured more than 15 others and shot and killed himself following the second shooting, police say.
Marsh Chapel officials have been talking with students in person and through email, said Marsh Chapel dean Robert Hill. Representatives from the Florence & Chafetz Hillel House and the Newman House, which houses the university's Catholic Center, were also available at the vigil.
"I was surprised by the number [of people at the vigil]," Hill said.
Elmore and BU Police Department Chief Thomas Robbins attended a city safety meeting at the Boston Police Department headquarters yesterday afternoon where representatives from 19 area schools discussed ways to improve safety protocols and communication among city and local agencies, Elmore said.
"We will be in a continual assessment," addressing BU's training response, how departments communicate with each other and the various city and state agencies they work with, he said.
"We know we've got a network of public safety," Elmore said. "It is still important to assess [BU's] crisis response."
BU officials are continuing to offer chaplain and counseling services. Marsh Chapel officials are inviting students to gather at 11 a.m. today at the chapel for another moment of prayer, Hill said.
"Our hearts really go out to the people in Virginia," he said. "We know what it means to grieve."
Many faculty members, parents, students and staff contacted the Dean of Students Office yesterday with suggestions and concerns about how BU could handle a campus shooting, Elmore said.
Elmore, who hosts weekly conversations with students in the Howard Thurman Center, will focus the first portion of Friday's discussion on the shooting, while a behavioral medicine representative will be present for counseling.
"There's lots of issues about violence and people's personal safety," Elmore said.
The Albert and Jesse Danielson Institute, one of BU's psychological facilities, is also offering students counseling services despite an extensive waiting list to be treated, said Clinical Director Dr. Jorge Stavros.
Stavros said if students contact the Institute with an "acute reaction" to the shootings, the office will make an appointment for them immediately. As of last night, no students had contacted the Institute in regard to the shootings.
Elmore is encouraging BU community members of the BU community to reach out to others and alert officials if they suspect someone behaving suspiciously.
"If it doesn't feel right to us, we have to report it," he said. "I'm always encouraging students to be mindful about their own personal safety."
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2007/04/18/News/Grieving.Nation.Copes.With.Tragedy-2849522.shtml> The Daily Free Press - April 18, 2007</a>
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Matt Negrin <editor@dailyfreepress.com>
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Grieving nation copes with tragedy
boston university
coping
grief
tragedy
vigil
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Sara Hood
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Brandon McGinley
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2007-06-22
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By Brandon McGinley
Princetonian Columnist
As the epigraph for "The Brothers Karamazov," Fyodor Dostoevsky presented John 12:24:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
At first glance, the verse is difficult to decipher due to the vexing translation. The novel that follows, however, allows for a better understanding of this significant statement, which is particularly powerful in this time of national mourning.
Faced with such senseless suffering, it is natural to recoil from any faith in divine harmony, for no amount of retribution, whether in this life or the next, can return the smiling faces of the lost to their friends and family. It is precisely at this moment, though, when that faith is being fired in the crucible of anger, grief and doubt, when it proves to be most comforting and, perhaps, most true.
One of the most profound truths presented by Dostoevsky in his last novel is often simply accepted in contemporary society, without exploring its ramifications: We are all connected. It is a statement short on words but long on meaning. In "The Brothers Karamazov," the reader is blessed with the omniscience to understand that the entire cast of characters is hurtling toward tragedy, while each individual within the plot, particularly the three brothers, do not conceive the ultimate consequences of their actions or inactions.
Though we strive, and rightfully so, for that connectedness in our lives — through friendships, community service, religious services, etc. — it is too often convenient to think of oneself as insulated from the rest of the community. At times of moral crisis, it is so much easier to disregard, either through true ignorance or active self-delusion, the propagation of ramifications throughout this tightly woven human network. When one decides to have sex without protection, proceed with an abortion procedure or take the life (or allow the taking of the life) of another human being, the consequences are never simply personal.
When we either temporarily overlook that connectedness or are so selfish that we ignore the implications for countless others of our own flawed decision-making, we commit a transgression against the entire human network and, if you wish, against the God who lovingly created each of us equally in his image. And so, in this manner, we can see the killer in Blacksburg, Va., often described as an outsider or loner, as someone who, feeling disconnected from the community by cultural issues or other mental strife, could claim no stake in the community and felt no moral obligation to it.
It is interesting, but ultimately unrewarding to examine in hindsight the psychology of the killer. What is most important to those affected by this tragedy is a fuller understanding of the meaning of their monumental loss. For if all of humanity is connected through this interwoven web, certainly the impact of death can be felt far beyond the individual.
This brings us to the Biblical verse which opened this column and to the powerful conclusion of "The Brothers Karamazov." A clearer translation of it is as follows: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." But what is the "fruit" that results from the tragic loss of innocent life?
In "The Brothers Karamazov," the answer is memories — fond remembrances of times spent together, of goodness, of love. Near the end of the plot, the young boy Ilyushechka, after several days of visits from his school friends, dies from a painful disease. After the funeral, the young monk Alyosha gathers the children together in the center of their somber Russian village.
He says to them, "You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home." But how can we compare the death of a young character in a nineteenth century Russian novel to the loss of 32 innocent lives on the campus of Virginia Tech?
To use the old adage, no man is an island. Each lost individual leaves behind hundreds if not thousands of others who have been touched by his or her life, and now untimely death. And those thousands of souls have been blessed with millions of memories of goodness and love. Across this nation and this globe, the tragedy has affected millions more who have no personal attachment to Virginia Tech, but who cannot help but reexamine their own values and priorities in the face of such destruction and who cannot help but be encouraged about the state of the human condition after viewing the solidarity of the Virginia Tech community.
This is not to glorify death, but to grasp meaning from the flames of despair, for no man dies in vain.
As the book ends, the boys come together to say, "We will remember, we will remember!"
At the Cassell Coliseum on the campus of Virginia Tech, the students raised their voiced to the rafters and exclaimed, through the grief, the mourning and the sadness that "We are Virginia Tech!"
<i>Brandon McGinley is a freshman from Pittsburgh, Pa. He may be reached at bmcginle@princeton.edu. </i>
--
Original Source: <a href=http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2007/04/19/opinion/18137.shtml> Daily Princetonian - April 19, 2007</a>
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Kavita Saini <ksaini@Princeton.EDU>
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Finding meaning in tragedy
grief
literature
loss
princeton
tragedy
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Sara Hood
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Carolyn McGough,
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2007-07-15
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By Carolyn McGough
Friday, April 20, 2007
Tears rolled down many UCLA community members' faces in De Neve Plaza on Thursday night, as hundreds gathered to honor the memory of the victims of the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech.
Following Monday morning's shootings - in which 33 were killed, including professors and students - a vigil was planned by the Office of Residential Life and the Undergraduate Students Association Council.
Five hundred tea candles were distributed before the somber ceremony began, but there still were not enough for each person in the huge crowd that gathered, said USAC President Marwa Kaisey.
Kaisey was the first to speak, as she strived to bring community members together and encouraged them to share feelings.
"We want to show Virginia Tech support, to show that the Bruins care and have been touched by the tragedy," Kaisey said.
During the ceremony, Kaisey read the names of each of the victims in an effort to "humanize the tragedy."
A quilt will be sent to Virginia Tech to show that UCLA identifies with and cares for the Blacksburg, Va. school, she said.
Students were invited to decorate a patch for the quilt and become a direct part of the support.
Former member of the Peace Corps and UCLA Ombudsperson Donald Hartsock also spoke. He emphasized the close bond UCLA and Virginia Tech have with each other, both great American universities.
"Respectfully, I say 'Go Hokies.' And I say to us now, 'Go Bruins.' We are family," he said.
This is the largest shooting massacre in the United States that has occurred on another college campus - a campus not too unlike UCLA, she said.
Cho Seung-Hui, a 23-year-old student at Virginia Tech, opened fire Monday morning in two buildings, killing two students in a dorm room and then 30 more in one of the buildings on campus. Afterward, Seung-Hui then proceeded to kill himself.
The gunman had mailed NBC a package containing a 23-page written statement, which exemplified a struggle he had between himself and his surrounding environment. Photos and videos were also sent of himself holding and aiming guns.
Since the event, many universities and students across the country have shown their support for the Virginia Tech community through social-networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Some students have also changed their profile pictures to Virginia Tech insignias.
Kristin Gardner, a Virginia Tech alumna from the class of 2003, attended the vigil to thank UCLA for its consideration.
Encouraging all to wear orange and maroon - the colors of Virginia Tech - students and alumni of the university have declared today as "Hokie Hope Day," she said.
Students were encouraged to seek support from friends, family and university resources, said Director of Student Psychological Services Elizabeth Gong-Guy.
"SPS wishes to offer you whatever support you need. But the best support really does come from your peers," she said.
A theme of the night portrayed by speeches and the somber environment was the closeness between UCLA and Virginia Tech students.
"Even though it seems so far away, it's an American university," said Angie Noffsinger, a fourth-year communication studies student.
"It's important for us to show that at UCLA we identify with the students at Virginia Tech."
--
Original Source:<a href=http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2007/apr/20/bruins_gather_grieve/>April 20, 2007</a>
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The Daily Bruin
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Saba Riazati <editor@media.ucla.edu>
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Bruins gather to grieve
grief
ucla
vigils
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Elizabeth Miller
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2007-08-14
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By: Elizabeth Miller
Posted: 4/20/07
I am rarely at a loss for words. But now, as I approach this column after a week of tragedy - both at Miami University and nationwide - I can hardly form a rational thought. Somehow a 500-word column needs to be written on a topic that I cannot find one suitable word for.
I don't need to recall the events of Saturday night at Miami, or Monday afternoon at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Nothing that I say can express the individual grief, confusion and frustration that we feel. Like you, I've been watching the news and discussing it in class. Sometimes the facts are accurate. Sometimes they're just pieces of rumor that patch together some semblance of truth. I guess when you're desperate for answers, almost anything helps.
But as I'm flipping through the channels of repeated footage, I'm shocked to hear how quickly the actual disaster has been swept aside. The news is flooded with debate about Virginia gun sales and the failure of campus crisis communication. Somehow CNN and ABC find it appropriate to spark these debates right now. Gun control. University communication policy. The horror of this tragedy cannot be simplified into a policy debate. Not yet, anyways. This is about people. People were murdered, first and foremost. The aftermath should be filled with reverence and condolences for the victims. The focus should be for the families left behind, the campus that will be shaken forever and the lives that were taken.
We have to let ourselves grieve. We have to take time to hurt, to sympathize, to feel, to pray. This isn't a time to blame. Yes, there will be a time to discuss methods of prevention. That time is not now.
It is simply disrespectful to ignite any heated policy debate that supersedes the mourning for the lost lives. Of course, it's natural to seek blame and explanation when such an event happens. So, yes, we can point fingers. We can assume things about the school, the policies, the killer, the situation at-large. It's a natural reaction to assign blame at a time like this. But assigning blame won't bring those students and faculty back.
Like I said, I'm at a loss for eloquent words that can articulate the disaster. Words alone will not solve the confusion, they won't mend the grief. I'm at a loss for words, but I'm not at a loss for feeling. And perhaps that's all we can do for now. We can feel. We have to let ourselves grieve. This isn't a time to blame the state of Virginia for gun control policies. This isn't a time to question the administrative communication of the university. We will have months, maybe years, ahead for that. This tragedy isn't about policy. It's about lives. And for now, the respect for those who died and the sympathy for the families left behind should be the forefront of our concern.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.miamistudent.net/media/storage/paper776/news/2007/04/20/OpedPage/Mourning.Of.Va.Tech.Loss.Not.Over-2870733.shtml>The Miami Student - April 20, 2007</a>
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The Miami Student
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"Skotzko, Stacey Nicole" <skotzksn@muohio.edu>
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Mourning of Va. Tech loss not over
grief
miami university
policy debate
reflection
tragedy
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https://april16archive.org/files/original/DSC00138_4a2b683b90.JPG
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2007-08-13
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2007-08-13 19:36:10
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Na Mi
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Jinfeng Jiao
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2007-08-13
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After the vigil,people left candles and flowers on the drillfield to express their sadness and grief.
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eng
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Candles on the drillfield
Drillfield
grief
vigil
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https://april16archive.org/files/original/DSC00147_7f31d1639d.JPG
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2007-08-14
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2007-08-14 11:26:38
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Na Mi
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Jinfeng Jiao
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2007-08-14
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A banner from Anderson University, on display in front of Burruss Hall, reads "We are all Hokies today as we share in your grief, may God grant you strength for the dark days ahead, solace for your pain and suffering, and courage for a brighter tomorrow."
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The Burrus Hall
anderson university
burruss hall
grief
solace
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Sara Hood
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Kristen Davis
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2007-06-24
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<i>2 days later, campus still rattled by tragedy</i>
By: Kristen Davis
Posted: 4/18/07
More than a hundred students, faculty and administrators bowed their heads in silence at 2 p.m. Tuesday, as the Duke Chapel bell tolled 33 times-once for each casualty of the Virginia Tech shootings.
The interfaith vigil-which was organized by Craig Kocher, assistant dean of the Chapel and director of religious life-was held at the same time as a memorial service in Blacksburg, Va., to display solidarity between Virginia Tech and Duke.
In his reflection, Dean of the Chapel Samuel Wells spoke about the "fragile beauty" of human life and prayed for all those affected by the tragedy.
A Buddhist chant of compassion was offered, and Carlisle Harvard, director of the International House, urged students to be sympathetic to Korean students' possible anxiety over the ethnicity of the shooter, who was identified Tuesday.
Many Duke students-including some of the more than 500 undergraduates and graduates who call Virginia home-said that in the past two days they have felt the effects of the tragedy in a variety of ways.
"Being at Duke, we usually don't have time to deal with personal issues, so it was good to have time to release and vent and have a moment of silence," said Tiffany Scott, a senior from Virginia who added that she was relieved to learn that none of her friends at Virginia Tech had been hurt.
Alan Combs, a third-year Divinity School student who is also from Virginia, said his brother-in-law, a freshman at Virginia Tech, used his cell phone to take one of the pictures that appeared on CNN.com.
Combs' brother-in-law was not injured in the shootings, but at least one of his friends was killed.
Combs, along with several other students, said the events encouraged deeper self-reflection.
"[The massacre] reminds everyone of the contingency of our lives, which is not necessarily something to be fearful of, but more of a reminder that I don't control my own life," Combs said.
Many students also said that although they have made an effort to keep updated with news of the incident, they do not approve of the media's coverage of it.
"I tried to avoid watching the television because instead of acknowledging the tragedy, they spend time specifying motives and who's to blame," Combs said.
Students have used Internet technology, however, to broadcast their support for their fellow college students at Virginia Tech.
The Facebook group "We Love You, Virginia Tech (Dukies in Support of Techies on a terrible day)" had 144 members as of Tuesday night, and many students have changed their Facebook profile pictures to a black ribbon with the maroon Virginia Tech insignia. "A lot of schools are creating their own logos [with their mascots] for support," junior Nick Pardo said. "'Today we are all Hokies.'"
--
Original Source: <a href=http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/04/18/News/Distraught.Duke.Asks.Questions-2849464.shtml> Duke Chronicle - April 18, 2007</a>
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David Graham <david.graham@duke.edu>
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Distraught, Duke asks questions
community response
duke
grief
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Sara Hood
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Marta Dehmlow
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2007-08-08
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<b>As Tulane officials rethink security policies, some Tulane students express personal grief over Monday's events
By:</b> <a href="http://www.thehullabaloo.com/user/index.cfm?event=displayAuthorProfile&authorid=2313160">Marta Dehmlow</a>
<b>Posted:</b> 4/20/07
Students at Virginia Tech and all over the nation will remember April 16 as a day that shattered the security of college campuses everywhere.
"How do you have openness and accessibility and make sure the campus is as safe as possible?" Tulane University president Scott Cowen asked in an April 18 interview with the Hullabaloo. "Campuses are sacred ground."
This "sacred ground" was desecrated, however, when Cho Seung-Hui, a 22-year-old senior at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 students and injured 26 more before turning his gun on himself.
The largest school shooting in history has torn apart the Virginia Tech college community in Blacksburg, Va., leaving college students nationwide doubtful about the security of their own institutions.
"It can happen anywhere," senior neuroscience major Jen Velarde said. "Crazy people are out there. It can happen so easily; there's such a fine line. As much as you secure a building, if a student is going to do this, it can happen."
And it has happened a number of times before, university officials said.
"This is not really an isolated incident," Tulane University Police Department director Ken Dupaquier said, citing past shootings on college campuses. "People think that it hasn't happened before or in a long time, but it has."
Nationwide, college students empathizing with their Virginia Tech counterparts have demonstrated their solidarity. Jonathan Horner, a senior microbiology major who has several close friends at Virginia Tech, showed support for the affected school by changing his facebook picture to one saying "Today we are all Hokies," referring to Virginia Tech's mascot. He, like many other college students, also joined a facebook group memorializing the victims.
"I also called and messaged all my friends," he said. "I told them I'm praying for them and their school."
Other students were more immediately affected by the massacre at Virginia Tech.
Maura Bowlin, a sophomore English major, spent her freshman year at Virginia Tech before transferring to Tulane in the fall of 2006.
"It's eerie to think I've walked the halls of [Ambler-Johnston Residence Hall and Norris Hall]," Bowlin said about the sites of the two shootings.
Although she has many friends at the school, Bowlin said she has not quite felt the full effect of the situation.
"It hasn't really sunk in. We talk about it in every single class, which I wish we didn't," Bowlin said.
Bowlin explained that Cho was not a typical Virginia Tech student. As a senior, the gunman lived on campus, "which almost no one does after freshman year. So that was weird."
She also had a friend who was supposed to be in one of the classrooms in Norris Hall.
"She slept through the class," Bowlin said. "I knew a few people who just didn't go to class because they had a feeling."
Kerry Kraft, a sophomore communication major, spent Fall 2005 at Virginia Tech, where one-quarter of her high school class attends.
"I was distraught when I tuned on the TV. I spent all day on the phone or in front of [it]," Kraft said.
She knows a number of students at Virginia Tech, and she was very concerned, Kraft said.
"I was lucky," Kraft said. "Everyone I know was all right, but they were all affected directly or indirectly. I was lucky not to be directly affected."
The events have also caused Tulane's administration and campus police force to reiterate their security measures and emergency preparedness plan.
"All of our public safety officers are trained as police officers at the academy, like NOPD. Therefore they have at least been prepared," Cowen said.
Prior to the Virginia Tech massacre and Hurricane Katrina, a decision was made to update the emergency response system.
"We will have six different phone numbers for each student, plus e-mails will get blasted by information [in the event of an emergency]", Cowen said. The new system will also include the ability to text message students' cell phones.
Dupaquier believes that with Tulane's current protocol, an event such as this one would have been avoided.
"Our protocol for dealing with students with similar traits to [Cho's] is that we would have liked to intervene," Dupaquier said. "We have a mechanism in place between Public Safety, Student Affairs, the Educational Resource Center, the student health center and the deans that would catch this, hopefully."
Tulane, like many other colleges, is also reassessing current systems. A task force is being created headed by Vice President Anne Banos. It will involve different arms of the university and several student leaders to help ensure that such a horrific event does not happen at Tulane.
"We will see what changes, if any, need to be made in our protocol," Dupaquier said. "The president expects an answer in a timely manner. Not in a matter of months, but Cowen expects recommendations in a few weeks."
While the administration and public safety department are concerned first and foremost with the well-being of Tulane students, they extend their sympathies to the Virginia Tech community.
"Obviously, we are devastated for those that were killed, and their friends and family," Cowen said. "We are not strangers to tragedy, and we can identify. We will do whatever we can to help."
Cowen said the school has offered counseling and Student Affairs personnel to offer help as students, staff and faculty at Virginia Tech cope with the tragedy.
--
Original Source: <a href=http://media.www.thehullabaloo.com/media/storage/paper958/news/2007/04/20/News/Massacre.At.V.t.Affects.Colleges.Across.Nation-2873327.shtml>The Hullabaloo - April 20, 2007</a>
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eng
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"Dickson, Drew D." <ddickson@tulane.edu>
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Massacre at V.T. affects colleges across nation
campus safety
grief
student response
tulane
unversity response
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Sara Hood
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Matt Sohn
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2007-08-14
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By: Matt Sohn
Posted: 4/20/07
Nobody's quite sure what to expect when the Miami University football players don the Red and White for Friday's annual spring scrimmage. On the one hand, injuries have continued to decimate a team still smarting from its 2-10 campaign of 2006, but on the other hand, the RedHawks return the core of the fastest team in the MAC.
The question of whether they're reeling or ready will soon be answered.
No such questions exist for the football team of Virginia Tech. Led by one of the nation's elite defenses, the Hokies stand as the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC next season.
Thousands of fans were expected to pack Lane Stadium for Saturday's spring game in anticipation of a banner season in Blacksburg, Va. But, because of a cascade of bullets that ripped through the heart of the Hokie nation, no such game will be played.
Shouts of "Hokie Hokie Hokie High!" have been replaced by the tearful hysteria of a campus coming to grips with the fact that their lives will never be the same.
When looking back at my college career, the one constant I could always count on was change. Midway through my first year, I was assigned a new roommate. I've switched my major. I've fallen in love and have had my heart broken. I've been praised for my writing and have received hate mail.
Nowhere has the concept of change been more pervasive than in the world of sports.
As a wide-eyed first-year in 2002, I was among the tens of thousands in the Yager Stadium bleachers as Miami was just a few minutes shy of toppling an Iowa team that would go undefeated in Big Ten play. Two years ago, I was one of just a couple hundred to witness Bowling Green pound the RedHawks in a 42-14 romp in tornado-like conditions. I've seen the North Dakota hockey team shut Miami out in the opening game of 2005, only to watch Miami climb to No. 1 in the polls later that season. There was the nostalgic farewell to Goggin, the groundbreaking of the Steve Cady Arena and hard times on the hardwood followed by Doug Penno's heroism.
In sports and in life, hope springs eternal.
So what do you say to a Virginia Tech community whose indelible image of college is that of their classmates, friends, professors and lovers senselessly slaughtered? How does a mother cope with seeing her son's farewell to Blacksburg be in a body bag instead of on a graduation podium? The sad truth is that for the grieving Hokie family, there's no salve for their wound.
Even with all the advancements in medical science, there's no painkiller for this kind of hurt - no stadium construction, buzzer-beater or championship ring that will ever change the reality of those dealing with premature death.
What these men and women can do is remind themselves that to make the most of every moment as the universal healing power of time runs its course.
A similar lesson applies to everyone, everywhere. For those of us biding our final days in Oxford, let's not bemoan our imminent departure, but rather celebrate our journey. For those continuing your collegiate experience, make plans for making the most of your time here.
And this is where the beauty of sport lies for everybody. For the majority of us, our life's course won't be affected by athletics. It won't give us a raise or get us fired, won't find us happiness or despair in romance, nor will it ease the agony from the families of Virginia Tech and others coping with tragedy.
What it can do, however, is provide us with a needed respite from the constant grind of life. When the Hokie football team storms the field Sept. 1 for its season-opening clash with Eastern Carolina, nobody will forget the massacre that afflicted their campus months earlier. But, for a three-hour stretch on a Saturday afternoon, they can turn their attention away from grief, schoolwork and jobs, and onto the raucous adulation that transpires on the field.
As Tom Cochran's song reminds us, "Life is a highway," and as sports remind us, there are many rest stops along the way.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.miamistudent.net/media/storage/paper776/news/2007/04/20/Sports/Sports.Can.Help.Ease.Pain.At.Vt-2870599.shtml>The Miami Student - April 20, 2007</a>
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The Miami Student
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"Skotzko, Stacey Nicole" <skotzksn@muohio.edu>
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Sports can help ease pain at VT
grief
healing
miami university
sports
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Brent Jesiek
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Matt Wiebe
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2007-07-16
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Anyone who is not living an incredibly secluded life (if you are, can I join you there?) has probably heard about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. where a gunman killed some 33 people, including himself. I've struggled whether to weigh in on this or not, but I felt that I would do so because I feel like a lot of the subtext of what is being said is awful.
First and foremost, as a Christian, I am praying for those actually affected by this. Friends, families and Virginia Tech's students and faculty are hurting right now. God of all comfort, be near to them and somehow work this evil towards good. Christ, have mercy.
I implore people to not use this as a springboard for their agendas. Gun control lobbyists, anti-video game lobbyists and people of this ilk: I'm talking about you. While you may have some valid points, just shut up for a while and grieve with those who are mourning.
I also understand that, in pain, people want someone to blame. Since the killer committed suicide, he does not prevent the convenient target. Please don't turn the school's president and the the chief of campus police into scapegoats to satisfy your pain-fueled desire for justice. Guess what: there won't be any here. The pain won't go away just because you feel like you have someone to blame.
To the news media: you disgust me. Human suffering is not a commodity to be packaged, sensationalized and delivered to consumers. You're a pack of vultures; a bunch of parasites of pain. Stop giving voice to the lobbyists who want to twist this for their own cause. Learn to listen, learn to suffer with those who are suffering. Tell us what's happening, and get the hell out of the way. Please.
To those who will inevitably say, "let's ensure this never happens again," I have news for you: you can't do that. What you can do is learn to live a life that is full of joy and pain amidst many uncertainties. I'm not saying that nothing can be done, but I am saying that fear and pain do not drive anyone to make good decisions about the way things can be.
Every crisis is an opportunity. Let us not miss out, no matter how ugly the package this crisis came in.
Published on April 17th, 2007
--
Original Source: mattwiebe.com
<a href="http://mattwiebe.com/2007/04/virginia-tech/">http://mattwiebe.com/2007/04/virginia-tech/</a>
This work is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ca/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License</a>.
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License
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Virginia Tech
grief
gun control
lobbyists
mourning
news media
prayer
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https://april16archive.org/files/original/DSC00141_953ba73d7e.JPG
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2007-08-14
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People tied maroon and orange ribbons on trees to express grief and remembrance a week after April 16.
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eng
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Ribbons of remembrance
grief
maroon
orange
remembrance
ribbons
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Sara Hood
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Ryan MacDonald
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2007-08-14
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By:Ryan MacDonald
Posted: 4/18/07
In the days following a great tragedy, we as human beings collectively exhibit a variety of distinct reactions. Some will experience fear. This response is inevitably redoubled by a media which profits on false dependency -- cable news network owners want Americans to believe that without a constant and unfettered flow of semi-useful detail they will lack the needed information to survive the evening. Others sink deeply into depression. A few bleak hours permanently darken the thousands that they have spent on this planet. A state of war looms on all horizons. A third group will clamor for explanations and solutions. Quick fixes will be enticing and will abound. Pundits and politicians will congest the airwaves and television screens calling for every reform from censorship of music to religious revival. Erroneous causal connections will be purported, and the vulnerable masses will be lost in the sea of competing ideologies.
On Monday, tragedy struck. As news poured in from various outlets we learned the shooting at Virginia Tech was the worst in American history. Reporters interrogated school officials about the identity of the shooter and why he was able to carry out two rounds of mass murder without being caught. People will struggle with causes and effects for weeks; they will pour over preventative solutions; news outlets will inject dramatic twists of plot to increase viewership and revenue. Confusion and disillusionment will not be in short supply.
Amid all of this, though, I urge you to reflect deeply on the events of April 16 and the aftermath. What is your immediate response? How will this affect your perception of the world? What would you do to change things? Preempt the onslaught of ideology before it reaches your ears.
Although I run the risk of being labeled a hypocrite by putting forth a moral position, I'd like to share some of my personal reflections. First of all, the most essential fact of the matter is that an individual was able to acquire fire arms and commit a horrendous act. Immediately I was reminded of my time as an intern in a London law firm where I learned that possession of a firearm carries a five-year sentence there. The rest of Europe views guns as an even darker evil. Mass shootings do not occur in Europe. Although violence certainly exists there, the weapon of choice is a knife. A man with a knife will never kill 32 people by himself.
In the United States, politicians court potential voters by leaking a video of their hunting trips. As John Stewart recently pointed out, Americans do not see the apparent contradiction in being a hunter and standing on a pro-life platform. The possession and ownership of firearms is protected by Constitutional amendment. Guns are entrenched in American politics and culture.
However, many fail to realize that the Constitution is not an infallible document. it had once barred blacks and women from voting, allowed for slavery and banned liquor. When the Constitution is wrong, it can and should be amended. Gun enthusiasts will present the opposite information. In fear of losing their gruesome, death-oriented pastime they will lobby politicians to blame this tragedy on gangsta rap or video games. They want to hide the fact that the domestic arms proliferation for which they are responsible is inextricably linked to the massacre of innocents. Guns kill people. Period. Where no guns exist, violence isn't as rampant.
As I remarked earlier, you may brand these remarks as ideology and apply the above criticism of political opportunism to my own words. I accept this and consider it fair. However, I challenge you to reflect deeply and with self honesty. Consider the sanctity which we afford guns in America. Don't allow yourself to fear entering the classroom or walking the streets. If it is possible, let's grasp this occasion to engender change and put forth well thought out, constructive critiques of our lives and our nation.
Ryan MacDonald is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
--
Original Source:<a href=http://media.www.dailyfreepress.com/media/storage/paper87/news/2007/04/18/Opinion/Perspective.Personal.Instinct.Only.Defense.Against.Tragic.News-2849548.shtml>The Daily Free Press - April 18, 2007</a>
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eng
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The Daily Free Press
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Matt Negrin <editor@dailyfreepress.com>
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PERSPECTIVE: Personal instinct only defense against tragic news
boston university
grief
reflection
response to tragedy