Notes on the Virginia Tech Tragedy
Some thoughts from my
perspective
It's been a while since my last entry, for several
reasons. One reason was a week-long vacation trip to Atlanta where Peg and I
visited our daughter and also went off by ourselves to play tourist for a few
days in and around Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia. It was a good
trip, and I'll have more to say about it after we get some photos
organized.
We got back home on Sunday, 15 April. I had Monday off for recompression and to catch up on various things, so I was at home when I received the first reports of the horrific events at Virginia Tech. Though I'm something of a news hound, I managed to avoid spending huge amounts of time attending to the dense coverage of the sparse knowledge available that day. Of course, the reports were quite disturbing, and I've thought about the tragedy quite a lot, and wondered whether there was something I could say about it here that would be worth anyone's time reading. I don't think I've got any unique insights, but I feel as though this event is important enough that I can't simply ignore it here.
Tuesday evening I read an entry and comments on the Making Light blog about Christopher J. (Jamie) Bishop, who was killed while teaching his German class. He was the first victim I'd seen identified by name, and learning a few details about him helped me appreciate him as a person, making the tragedy more real--which was at once painful and helpful.
A few hours later, I learned from Weirdbird's blog that she and her husband Tilt knew Jamie Bishop when they all lived in Carrboro, North Carolina a few years ago. Now, Tilt is my son, as most of my readers probably know (since most of my readers are Tilt and Weirdbird) so their moving accounts added to a sense of connection with Jamie Bishop. This sense was oddly enhanced again when I learned that Jamie grew up in Pine Mountain, Georgia, where we had spent part of our vacation just days before the shootings. I have a powerful awareness of a fine life senselessly cut short, and while I know less about the others who were killed, and feel less connected to them, I certainly recognize similar tragedy for each of them.
There has been a great deal of discussion and speculation about how this tragedy could have been avoided. Maybe better campus security, or tighter gun-control laws or a hundred other things could have made a difference. I've wondered about the perpetrator, and what could have made a difference in his life, what might have led to a better end. There is a natural tendency to dismiss Seung-Hui Cho as simply evil or deranged, and there was obviously something seriously wrong with him. Nevertheless, he was a human being, and I don't believe he was doomed from birth to follow the sort of course he ultimately chose. Maybe our understanding of human behavior will eventually allow us to avert nearly all such dreadful outcomes. I certainly don't know enough to say what would have changed his course, or when it may have been too late, but his end is tragic in itself, and much more so because of the many fine people he took from those who loved them, and from all of us.
We got back home on Sunday, 15 April. I had Monday off for recompression and to catch up on various things, so I was at home when I received the first reports of the horrific events at Virginia Tech. Though I'm something of a news hound, I managed to avoid spending huge amounts of time attending to the dense coverage of the sparse knowledge available that day. Of course, the reports were quite disturbing, and I've thought about the tragedy quite a lot, and wondered whether there was something I could say about it here that would be worth anyone's time reading. I don't think I've got any unique insights, but I feel as though this event is important enough that I can't simply ignore it here.
Tuesday evening I read an entry and comments on the Making Light blog about Christopher J. (Jamie) Bishop, who was killed while teaching his German class. He was the first victim I'd seen identified by name, and learning a few details about him helped me appreciate him as a person, making the tragedy more real--which was at once painful and helpful.
A few hours later, I learned from Weirdbird's blog that she and her husband Tilt knew Jamie Bishop when they all lived in Carrboro, North Carolina a few years ago. Now, Tilt is my son, as most of my readers probably know (since most of my readers are Tilt and Weirdbird) so their moving accounts added to a sense of connection with Jamie Bishop. This sense was oddly enhanced again when I learned that Jamie grew up in Pine Mountain, Georgia, where we had spent part of our vacation just days before the shootings. I have a powerful awareness of a fine life senselessly cut short, and while I know less about the others who were killed, and feel less connected to them, I certainly recognize similar tragedy for each of them.
There has been a great deal of discussion and speculation about how this tragedy could have been avoided. Maybe better campus security, or tighter gun-control laws or a hundred other things could have made a difference. I've wondered about the perpetrator, and what could have made a difference in his life, what might have led to a better end. There is a natural tendency to dismiss Seung-Hui Cho as simply evil or deranged, and there was obviously something seriously wrong with him. Nevertheless, he was a human being, and I don't believe he was doomed from birth to follow the sort of course he ultimately chose. Maybe our understanding of human behavior will eventually allow us to avert nearly all such dreadful outcomes. I certainly don't know enough to say what would have changed his course, or when it may have been too late, but his end is tragic in itself, and much more so because of the many fine people he took from those who loved them, and from all of us.
Posted: Sun - April 22, 2007 at 02:25 PM by email
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Published On: Apr 22, 2007 04:18 PM
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Published On: Apr 22, 2007 04:18 PM