Remember the victims of the Virgina Tech massacre, forget the gunman

*Note — this is the editorial I wrote the week of the Virgina Tech massacre*
By now, everyone has heard about the tragedy that befell Virginia Tech in the early hours of April 16. By now, everyone reading this knows that the shooter ended 32 lives before turning the gun on himself. And by now, many people know his name, which I have an uncomfortable feeling that is all he really wanted — having others remember his name. I have thought the words in this editorial through very carefully and I am going to do one thing that newspapers should never do — I’m going to withhold information from the reader.
I will not give the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre any acknowledgment by printing his name in this paper.
This is a local community newspaper, and his name is news that is understandably part of the national media at this moment. But, this paper will do all it can to forget that one worthless individual.
However, I’d love to be able to reprint the names of all the innocent victims of that day, but that information isn’t mine to give. There are lists available as of April 19. I found one — compiled by the Associated Press — on Yahoo.com earlier today, but by the time this paper gets to your mailbox, I believe there will be more informative lists available. I do believe that two of the victims were from New Jersey, but not Camden County.
A time like this, after the worst shooting rampage to happen in our country’s history, let alone the worst school shooting ever in America, is when we as humans can connect with each other and grieve together. It is part of the human condition to want to come together as a national community in a time of crisis. In a way, we can all relate to the families of the victims.
While not all of us may have lost someone close in this disaster, we still feel the pain of the loss of innocent lives. Just as after Sept. 11, 2001, we as a community mourn the innocent dead. It is natural. It helps us to not feel alone when horrible things make the world this much more frightening. It is part of the healing process.
The true struggle after something like this occurs is in making sense of it all. Many news outlets this week are focusing on asking questions like “What could have stopped this?” and “Why didn’t something in the gunman’s past set off some kind of warning?” But I feel the true questions are “Why now? What was the final straw?” I have read that the perpetrator was a small, quiet kid who was picked on most of his young life. Did he finally get to a point where he couldn’t take it anymore? The fact is a huge percentage of the American population was the “small quiet kid” who was picked on. Not everyone can be rich, popular or good looking (I know this one first hand).
But, most people can handle it. Society functions on the fact that most people can do everything calmly, and they handle the ups-and-downs of life in a non-violent fashion. But here was a quiet, unassuming person who went instantly mad. I honestly don’t know how to prevent this kind of atrocity without removing freedoms of modern society.
Would more gun control have prevented this? I’m not sure. The gunman had no criminal record, so just as any law-abiding American citizen could, he was able to purchase a gun. He had a checkered past of possible stalking offenses, and was once in a mental institution, but many fully functional people in society have been in mental institutions or have seen psychiatrists for one reason or another at some time in their lives.
His stalking offenses were text message related. He sent a lot of cell phone text messages to girls he was interested in. I can see how, before this incident, this offense might not set off the type of warning necessary to allow authority figures to identify the gunman as a threat of this magnitude.
I have to admit that maybe there is no way to understand this incident. There are too many factors involved, and placing blame on any one thing other than the depraved individual at fault is a mistake. Video games, heavy metal music, violent movies or other aspects of society can’t be blamed just because the one who committed the crime is in a grave.
The strange video he sent to NBC as a statement of motive only made the whole incident more confusing.
Instead, I suggest society forget those who do not deserve to be remembered and wish the murdered victims peace. My heart goes out to the friends and families of all the innocent victims.