Column: Focus on the victims, not the recriminations
Tim Edson, CT Columnist
April 17, 2007
Yesterday's events are still difficult to sort out and the exact scenario that unfolded yesterday morning is still murky amid the chaos, sensational and contradictory news reports, and second and third hand accounts. The situation is so horrible it's difficult to even admit it has occurred, much less comprehend the magnitude of events; at least 30 people are dead, their lives taken without any reason, or any remorse in what appears to be the single most outrageous indiscriminant act of violence in the nation's history. Others are wounded, and we cannot begin to imagine or even speculate about the horrors they experienced. Many families and friends have been robbed not only of a beloved son or daughter, or family member, or friend, but a certain jovial innocence that accompanied being a student, or a member of the Virginia Tech community.
Many seem dazed, asking: "Of all the places in the world? Crime in Blacksburg involves alcohol or post-game rowdiness. How could heinous acts such as these have happen here?" Throughout the day students and family members sought out their friends and loved ones, seeking assurances that they were safe. Television reports depicted wounded individuals being rushed from the scene, ever-changing casualty figures and intense speculation, and heavily armed law enforcement officials swarming the campus. For many, images like these and the accompanying feelings of grief and helplessness elicited by the events harkened back to 2001.
As members of the Virginia Tech community, let's resolve to remember those victims, assist the families and friends of the victims in any way we can in this time of grief, and pray for the victims and their families. Across the Commonwealth and across the country, Americans are unified in their heartache and sympathy for the victims, their family and friends, and members of the university community, those past and present.
While the true toll of this outrage is just beginning to become clear, some in the media, as well as in the Virginia Tech community have unfortunately been undeterred from letting the recriminations fly. Anger is understandable; in fact, outrage is more than justifiable given that someone would so carelessly and savagely take innocent lives. At this time, however, pointing fingers and casting blame isn't only wrong, it's disrespectful to the victims, families, friends, and everyone else so grievously affected by these horrific events.
We need to remember that the real villain in all this is the mass murderer responsible.
Based on university actions during the Morva incident at the beginning of the year and on university decisions in response to inclement weather in the past, there is reason to question the administration's decisions. Before we do that, however, authorities need to figure out exactly what happened. Once we have the full story, there will be plenty of time to sort out what went wrong, how lives might have been saved had things been done differently, hold people accountable for mistakes made, and to enact better policies if it turns out university protocol failed, or simply didn't exist.
Additionally, considering the depraved individual responsible for these purely evil actions used a gun, it invites a political debate. Yesterday afternoon the ABC News website led with a poll "Do you think this incident is a reason to pass stricter gun control legislation?" News anchors keep asking the question: could more gun control have prevented this. There will be plenty of time for reasoned debates based on fact, not raw emotion, concerning gun rights and gun control, but that time simply is not now. Immediately politicizing and exploiting this tragedy by arguing for concealed weapons or open possession of firearms on campus is wrong, just as using the event to manipulate emotions in arguing for the prohibition or dramatic restriction of gun rights is equally despicable.
The events of April 16, 2007 will undoubtedly haunt the collective consciousness of the Virginia Tech community for many years to come. While this event may affect the university, it cannot be allowed to define the institution. Virginia Tech makes an enormous difference in the lives of its students, and the state of the Commonwealth and the country through its intellectual contributions and community service. Before resorting to recriminations and demagoguery, let's remember those unique individual lives and bright futures cut short‰¥"both students and professors‰¥"striving for the betterment of their minds, the nation, the world, and the future. While supporting the surviving victims, the families and friends of the victims, and confronting the burden of these trying times, let's resolve that those killed, while gone, will not be forgotten, and in some way, this horrific episode will strengthen the Virginia Tech community.