Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

School shooting strikes again

Elizabeth Appleyard

eaappleyard@vwc.ewdu

“itll be like the LA riots, the oklahoma bombing, WWII, vietnam, duke and doom all mixed together. maybe we will even start a little rebelion or revolution to **** things up as much as we can. i want to leave a lasting impression on the world.” (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office 2006: 427; the spelling errors correspond to the original).

- Eric Harris, 18, Columbine High School assassin

“We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness… We will prevail…

-Nikki Giovanni, Virginia Tech University professor

“A single act of violence does not define us and will not keep us from being the individuals or the university community that I know we can be.

- John G. Peters, Northern Illinois University president

Three voices of determination; two of hope and one of destruction, all connected by one thing: a school shooting.

On April 20, 1999 two high-school seniors Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris murdered 12 students, one teacher, and then themselves in the middle of the school day in the suburban town of Littleton, Colorado.

April 16, 2007 Seung-Hui Cho, a 23- year-old Virginia Tech English major, is responsible for what is now being called the deadliest school shooting in US history; he singlehandedly killed 33 people and injured over 29 before taking his own life.

Thursday Feb. 14, 2008 not even a year after the Virginia Tech massacre another student strikes again; this time at the University of Northern Illinois. Former university student, 27-year-old, Steven Kazmierczak opened fire with a shotgun and two pistols, killing six students and himself while wounding at least 15 others.

According to Florida attorney Jack Thompson, Counter-Strike (CS), an online world- wide tactical first-person game series, is the reason why all three of these incidents occurred. However, others have not found evidence conclusive linking these shooters and their planning to the game or any video game for that matter; it has been a common theme throughout these three incidents however. Coincidentally many common themes have occurred between the shooters: they had diagnosable mental problems, appeared normal, and were all a little nerdy. The term “outcast” was a common word used throughout articles of the events. And all four of these men were known to have been picked on or didn’t quite fit in. However “normal” they appeared or did not appear, there was something happening inside their heads leading them to not only kill themselves, but 52 others as well.

My question is what is so awful in life that strikes someone to react so strongly? Could it be the influence of a video game or a bully? Maybe it was a girl that rejected them or a parent that wouldn’t accept them. Whatever snapped in these killer’s heads, it struck hard enough to want the world to know they were suffering.

I feel for these people, these killers. I would hope in another life they would have reacted differently. They would have spoken to someone or realized that nothing in life is so bad that you should eliminate the world around you. But now that they are gone, we suffer, the world around them, the world that they removed themselves from; and now we mourn the loss of the innocent and try to move on. We try to prevail and become a better community, but how can we when the threat of another shooting lurks in the distance? What has happened to these schools is unimaginable for a student to grasp if they have never lived through it. My fellow students, you are brave for bearing such an unforgettable event and returning to your proud Alma Mater.

Happiness, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. You never know what lurks behind the eyes of a fellow classmate or what is hidden deep within their soul. You can never understand how happy they are, or how happy they are not. If we would avoid another shooting, I believe it would take each one of us to bear down and avoid the clicks, say hello to a stranger, embrace a friendly face, ask questions, and give answers. Nothing in life should be so bad that you should want to leave it, and there is always someone in the world that doesn’t want you to leave it.