A Tragedy For The History Books:

Yesterdays’ events struck the American people and media with utter shock. ('You Caused Me to Do This') were some of the words left in a note from the killer Cho Seung-Hui. A legal immigrant to the US was said to have displayed warning signs for being unstable. The gunman had been recommended for counseling services by one of his English professors for the fact that some of his (writings raised concerns). This man was a loner and clearly noteworthy after his creative writings made it all the way to the chairman of the English department, despite never having had him as a student for his alarmingly vivid and disturbing writing pieces. He was in fact described by one of his professors’ as “troubled”.

He bought the (massacre gun) one of his weapons a 9mm glock for $571 just 3 short days before opening fire and killing 32 people. "He was as cordial as could be, and there was nothing unusual in his manner that suggested any thing wrong," Markell said that the pawn shop owner that sold Cho the gun. Prior to this event the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a “rampage that took place in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire with a rifle from the 28th-floor observation deck. He killed 16 people before he was shot to death by police.”

Coincidently Tuesday is a current event day in the eighth grade classes that I intern with, today much like the media the only topic that we could talk about was the shooting. The students in my classes, are well spoken children and seem very aware of what is going on around them; all of them seemed to come to the same point as I have which is, why? What is the motive? (Could Many of the Deaths Have Been Averted?) This is what remains, are those questions. The idea has been thrown out there on several news programs that the President of VT is to blame for his unwillingness to cancel classes after the first incident. I imagine that UNH in the same situation would have the same fate and this is not a matter for details of the Presidents action, but rather one for the educational system itself and for the future how much freedom is too much freedom when we think in terms of college campus's.

Furthermore, this morning on ‘Good Morning America’ they had some of the family members of the dead students. My sentiments are it is too soon for such interviews, but nevertheless it was nice to hear about the victims and their lives, such as a professor that was killed and him being a holocaust survivor. Ryan Stack one of the victims had his sister and brother talking about him this morning, it was truly amazing they were able to keep there composure and talk about this seemingly amazing young man that was a triple major at VT. (Lives Lost -- Portraits of Grief). This is a disturbing tragedy that hits close to all of us at UNH and across the states that are in college; this is supposed to be the “time of your life” as some say. President Bush said it best, "Our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech…We lift them up in our prayers and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering."