Virginia Tech

It has been a little time since the murders at Virginia Tech. The horror still remains and the why of what happened will probably never be answered. My son Andrew and I discussed the situation yesterday in our weekly IM session from Iraq. His view is different but not in opposition to mine. As a member of the military he was looking at what happened from the view of what might have been able to happen. I had been looking at the heroism of the students who blocked doors and worked to save classmates.

Then the discussion changed to "outsiders" and what causes some people to go on rampages while other fit into society. Andrew posted on his blog about this, and he made good points. Mental illness aside, our society is not kind to those who don't fit in. Andrew didn't fit when he was in school. In self defense, he developed a dangerous persona, all in black, chains and a mohawk. The image prevented a lot of harassment, but now how do you let the real person back out. Seung Cho got lost in world of mental illness and tragedy followed. It is more than I am able to answer, I don't think Andrew has the answer either. More guns are not the answer, and tighter gun control , who knows. But an awareness of the fragile state of the outsiders in our society may be the most useful.