Last evening, Monday, April 16, I had classes at Cleveland State. I and one of my fellow students were watching all the young students (Mike and I are substantially older than most of our classmates) studying, chatting, reading and working. Occasionally, you would hear wisps of "but something like that could not happen here." Ahhhh. And there is the rub . . . it could.
We live in a free society. Who among us would be willing to give up the freedoms we have for more safety and/or security? How much freedom would you be willing to give up.
By the time all is said and done, there will be tons of finger pointing. Where were the failures and who was responsible. Did the school fail? Did the parents of the shooter fail? Did any of his teachers recognize his sense of despair and not reach out? His friends who knew he was having problems, but were busy getting ready for finals and papers and dating and hanging out and were going to call him next weekend, did they fail him? The young woman that he shot first, how sad, how sad. The final responsibility, however, lies with the young man who in deciding that there were no other options, picked up his guns and silently destroyed lives.
Thinking about these children who have died and their families, including his, I pray that they will survive this. They will never forget, their lives are forever changed, but I pray they survive.
1 comment:
And the most devastating of all - it could happen anywhere. Even here in our little town - population 2000 - student population 170. And we are all responsible for not helping the shooter, who was in so much pain, before it was too late. I don't know the answer, but I am terrified.
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