Nowhere is safe

With the latest school shooting claiming the lives of 33? victims (still not sure if it's 31+2 or not) I am reminded that there is not one place on the planet where one is truly safe. At least, you are never truly safe if there are other people around. Also, apparently there is a video of the shooting on cnn.com who I suppose some kid took using his cell phone? I personally don't care to watch it, so can not describe it. I suppose that type of thing is worthwhile to the extent that you can learn from it, but it strikes me as kind of sick that it's online for mass consumption.

Actually, while sitting here thinking about it, I decided to see exactly what it was. Fortunately it's just someone outside the building taking video and audio of the gunfire. Of course the headline is "Student captures video of shooting". It really ought to be "Student captures audio of shooting". Whatever though.

I am also reminded of my freshmen at Rose-Hulman. Apparently, a couple of "America's Best and Brightest" decided it would be a great idea to detonate their home-made bomb on campus. The weird thing is, I not only didn't hear it, but I didn't hear ABOUT it until my mom called me freaking out. My parents were living in Phoenix at the time, so news traveled from Terre Haute, IN to Phoenix, AZ faster than it traveled across campus to me. Which sounds to be the case in this instance since they didn't send out the email of the first shooting until the second shooting took place. Knowing very little about this, it certainly sounds like their security playbook needs to be revamped, which also gives the same opportunity to other institutions throughout the nation.

The only thing one can do from an event like this is try to learn from it. Learn about yourself. Learn about your fellow man. Learn about the second amendment (no, I'm not a gun nut, but it's good to know the history). The issue of what gun this kid was using is a moot point, in my opinion. But, I'm sure there will be many-a-hippie that uses this tragedy as a tool to further their political agenda. I just wish the discussion could be an honest one and void of emotion when making the final decision. If you argue that emotion needs to be involved in decision making to some extent, that's all well and good about personal decisions, but for decisions that face the public at large, I'll argue to my last breath that emotion ought to left at the door, doing so as dispassionately as I can so as not to appear hypocritical...

In any event, it's a sad day, and I hope all of those which this has injured in some way can overcome their personal demons and newly acquired fears by whatever means they can find. I'm sure there will be a fund set up to help the families at some point in the near future and possibly some sort of other services offered where a volunteer who is close can help out in some way, so if you have a few extra dollars or know someone in the neighborhood, you can be a part of that healing process very soon.