Virginia Tech

This blog doesn't serve a lot of people. To be frank, no one reads this blog, I'm sure. I stopped posting for that very reason. It kind of goes with the "fallen tree in the forest" theory. I wish this blog could make a sound, but it doesn't. However, I still feel the need to write, especially now.

It's frightening how unaffected I was when I first heard about the shootings. Maybe it was because there was an optimistic part of me that believed that no one was seriously injured. I thought maybe only a couple of students got injured, and they would receive the proper care and be alright. That all changed when I saw the death toll.

Right now, a lot of the concentration is going to the killer. Seung-Hui Cho was called a "loner" by his peers, often exhibiting antisocial behavior. For this reason, I can see why he's getting a lot of attention. He fits the description of a lot of youth in America today, especially in high schools. If we can look into Seung-Hui Cho's mind and find what caused him to snap, we could possibly make contributions to youth psychology.

Not that it needs to be said, still, what Cho did was unthinkable and deserves no sympathy. That's just a proposal to dig up whatever positives can come from this tragedy. Though, I don't think looking into Cho should overshadow the victims, which I believe is happening. There is a curiosity that I'm sure is in all of us to know who Cho was. I don't feel there is anything wrong with that, but I do feel there is something wrong when I can't get media coverage on the victims. I thought we were supposed to see both sides.

Articles like these shouldn't overshadow articles like these.

The first link details the way Cho killed his victims. The second article are vignettes on the lives of the victims. The first article only generated disgust while the second brought me to tears. Among that list were people with such bright futures like Caitlin Hammaren. She was described by one of her teachers as being "...one of the most outstanding young individuals that I've had the privilege of working with in my 31 years as an educator." There were also accomplished individuals like Kevin Granata, who was declared "...one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy."

All of the victims were extraordinary in some way. Let's talk more about them.