Like people across the country, if not the entire world, I am shocked and saddened by the death and carnage that occurred at Virginia Tech on Monday. The senseless killings hit home, I guess, for several reasons.
First, the deaths of so many smart, young and talented people and the dedicated faculty members who lost their lives are a terrible loss not only to their families and Virginia Tech, but also the Commonwealth of Virginia and the entire country. Second, as a parent of three children, the youngest of which will be starting college in the fall, I can only imagine what the parents of the dead students are going through. It’s a parent’s worse nightmare come true – having nearly lost a child to meningitis seven years ago, I have experienced a sudden event that turn one’s world upside down. This event will no doubt haunt many parents sending their children off to college in the coming years. As a parent, one can never protect one’s children enough or try to all alleviate their unhappiness.
Third, I live in an area that sends hundreds of students to Virginia Tech – I keep scanning the list of the dead to make sure none of the children of friends or friends of my children appear. I cannot even count the number of Virginia Tech students my children and I collectively know. I continue to pray that no familiar name is yet to appear.
Lastly, as a Virginian this tragedy is a blot on the state’s name that will live on for many years to come – especially in light of Virginia’s pitiful gun control laws that make it so easy to obtain weapons. If it turns out that the identified shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, used extended ammunition clips, some of the carnage might have been avoided had the federal ban on automatic weapons not expired in 2004. It is also ironic that southwest Virginia where Virginia Tech is located is one of the political bastions in Virginia of those who oppose meaningful gun control laws. Perhaps this tragedy will wake up Virginians and others around the country to demand meaningful control laws.
First, the deaths of so many smart, young and talented people and the dedicated faculty members who lost their lives are a terrible loss not only to their families and Virginia Tech, but also the Commonwealth of Virginia and the entire country. Second, as a parent of three children, the youngest of which will be starting college in the fall, I can only imagine what the parents of the dead students are going through. It’s a parent’s worse nightmare come true – having nearly lost a child to meningitis seven years ago, I have experienced a sudden event that turn one’s world upside down. This event will no doubt haunt many parents sending their children off to college in the coming years. As a parent, one can never protect one’s children enough or try to all alleviate their unhappiness.
Third, I live in an area that sends hundreds of students to Virginia Tech – I keep scanning the list of the dead to make sure none of the children of friends or friends of my children appear. I cannot even count the number of Virginia Tech students my children and I collectively know. I continue to pray that no familiar name is yet to appear.
Lastly, as a Virginian this tragedy is a blot on the state’s name that will live on for many years to come – especially in light of Virginia’s pitiful gun control laws that make it so easy to obtain weapons. If it turns out that the identified shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, used extended ammunition clips, some of the carnage might have been avoided had the federal ban on automatic weapons not expired in 2004. It is also ironic that southwest Virginia where Virginia Tech is located is one of the political bastions in Virginia of those who oppose meaningful gun control laws. Perhaps this tragedy will wake up Virginians and others around the country to demand meaningful control laws.
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