I wish I had the
wisdom of the ages and could somehow verbalize a truth that would make
yesterday's horrific events in Virginia sensible. However, it is
impossible to find logic in the irrational - we cannot make sense out
of the unreasonable. And surely death of such magnitude, particularly
the demise of so many, so young and with so much promise is without
reason.
As is always the case, the media has jumped all over the
"why." They know there is just no easy answer...there is no "why" to
explain mental illness of this sort. Logically, we turn our attention
to where we can place blame.
How could no one have seen this man's troubled mind simmering to boil? How could the police have waited so long between the two incidents? Why didn't the school shut down and warn students & faculty?
There
are answers to all of these questions surely. Some are valid, others
not so much. The fact remains that they do little to assuage how sense
of loss and the feeling of helplessness that everyone is left with.
You don't have to be a student at Virgina Tech to feel this. You don't
have to be a parent or friend. It is akin to the feelings we all had
after the September 11th attacks. Helpless. It is like looking into
someone else's casket - it inevitably saddens us because it reminds us
of our own mortality..."weep not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for
thee."
There are those - especially in the media - who are
insisting on answers and explanations about some of these questions
because they somehow feel that there will be some sense of safety and
assurance in the answers. Sorry, folks. There is no answer for mental
illness. There is no answer for mindless, senseless violence. Again
like the terrorist attacks, we will never be able to fully guard
ourselves against the unthinkable and unimaginable.
All we are
left with is the one thing that we can best use to thwart the isolation
and disenfranchisement that gives safe harbor to so many disturbed
minds -- each other. We can communicate, we can reach out to friends
and strangers. Say something, say nothing - just touch each other.
When a man becomes an island he loses that sense of humanity that
effectively preempts most of us from doing such mostrous acts.
Gathering collectively,be it via e-mail, phone or in person gives us
back that sense of community and that ability to feel one another.
We
were ill-equipped to preclude Monday's events from occurring. We have
both a mental health system and a law enforcement system that are both
overburdened. The only effective weapon we have is an army of people
willing to communicate their feelings and thoughts with each other.
| View | Add Favorite
