# COUNTRY IN CRISIS

Category: Elder Folk

## Post 1 by dream lady (move over school!) on Wednesday, 18-Apr-2007 3:52:36

I am now watching Larry King on CNN, and the horror of yesterday's breaking news about the shootings at the University in Virginia seeps into my psyche. To me, it's a wake up call. Our country is in crisis.
The young man who performed these dastardly deeds is a prime example of the violence which permiates our country today. It's scary. This could have been my sons who were killed, my sons who could have killed, or even my grandchildren.
The innocence of our country has eroded away, and the stark reality of what's happened invades us like a foreign enemy. What is the answer? I don't know.
It's horrific how the University ignored the Professor's pleas for help for this young man. While I believe in freedom of speech, the writings of this youth were a forewarning of what was to com, and their disturbing contents should have been paid attention to.
I myself hate guns. When my kids were small and in adolescence, guns were not allowed in our house. Their dad and I fought about it, but that was one thing I insisted on.
Do you think there should be stricter laws concerning the gun laws, and what do you think the answer is to the violence in this country? Do you think older citizens are more vulnerable than most?
Survival of man is getting more arduous, and the future of humanity is at stake. It's heartbreaking to know the victims' families and friends will never be the same. The parents and family of the gunman. His negative impact on mankind will forever echo through the halls of history.

## Post 2 by Emerald-Hourglass (Account disabled) on Wednesday, 18-Apr-2007 11:23:07

This thing was totally crazy...yeah apparently this dude was very disturbed all his life. What's friggin scary is that my dad was in this part of Virginia at the time, he even passed by the school and a few hours later he went again but couldn't cuz there were police everywhere. He's a truck driver and strangely he's been in the worst places at the worst times...like he was near the world trade centre a day before the attacks and in New Orleans rite befor Katrina struck. It's sad that this whole thing happened. This guy was one sick bastard. I'm glad he's dead but all these students and the teacher who died, well my heart goes out to their family and friends. Things like these horrible crimes committed by sick people really make me question god. I believe in him and all, but why...Just why?

## Post 3 by dream lady (move over school!) on Thursday, 19-Apr-2007 3:26:35

Well, thanks for your post. I heard tonight that he mailed a vidieo to some network saying why he was going to do this, and they got it a few hours before. Tell your dad to take care of himself.

## Post 4 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Thursday, 19-Apr-2007 4:50:41

I agree that our country is in crisis.
Firstly, everyone and almost anyone can carry and conceal guns. We have the highest rate of murders committed with guns in the world.
Secondly, our president and his croanies argue that it is okay to torture prisoners with dubious results, unless it's just satisfaction.
Today it's in Guantonamo, tomorrow it will be in our own prisons, and the next day, in our churches.
Thirdly, the attorney general feels it is proper to politicize the federal prosecutors.
Fourthly, 185 Iraqis died yesterday because we continue to conduct an endless and meaningless war.
So, though I really do feel for the 32 people who are dead in Virginia, they have to wait their turns for sympathy, as the whole damned country is in crisis, and nobody really cares unless cnn or fox tell us it's okay to care.
Bummer!
Bob

## Post 5 by Grace (I've now got the ggold prolific poster award! wahoo! well done to me!) on Thursday, 19-Apr-2007 11:37:48

In some respects this shooting rampage at Virginia Tech really puts some perspective on all the fuss and carrying on to do with the situation over the two weeks previous regarding the Girls Basketball Team and the commenting of Don Imus. I mean like all the crying and oh how Imus hurt me attitude of the girls and how they will be forever scarred in life and have lost their joy, all on account of Imus... to Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, how about some real realness here, eh?
For with this shooting rampage lives of university students were ACTUALLY shot down and there are those students in hospitals that will carry the scars from these bullet wounds for indeed the rest of their lives.
In regards to the gun laws question that has been asked...
We don't need anymore laws, heck, if the proper reporting would have been made that this person had been in psy. care then that alone would have been a red flag on his file showing forth and these guns would not have been allowed by law to have been sold to this young man in the first place. Then from all the written accounts of this young man that are now coming forth he could have proceeded without the use of guns...there are other weapons. Think for a moment will you. If someone wants to take out a group of persons then a vehicle can easily become the weapon of choice to use to stampede through a crowd, trampling and killing them.
As far as showing forth care... I think it starts with us right in the everyday places where we find ourselves. I will certainly not downplay the candle lite vigils of the students on the VT campus and the what they need to do to help cope in the process of getting on with their lives.. But for me I can not get myself so worked up over what has happened that I become of no good value to my own family. Personally I set some limits on the amount of time that I will allow myself to devote to the listening of this shooting rampage.. It is something that for years I have done. For me it started back with the Postal Shootings of our Royal Oak, Michigan area with my husband being a postal employee at the time and initial reports only stating a local postal shoot out without giving the name of the local city.. My sons at the time were young and the amount of postal shoot out coverage was all day long on all local channels for days on end and with my sons knowing that "daddy works at the post office," it was just too much for our family to have continually expressed in our home. So Yes, definitely I understand what these students and their family members are going through and yes I care but at the same time there is a need to care about the people right where I am at.
Connie

## Post 6 by Rune Knight (Ancient Demon - Darkness will always conquer Light!) on Thursday, 19-Apr-2007 12:18:45

I can only imagine what our future holds for us at this point. I beleive the world we live may very come to screeching hault sooner than most of us think due to the wars, increased violence, severe weather changes, think about it the signs are here.
The only thing we can do is spend each day as if it were our last, or that's what I do anyways. I mean tommorrow we could be at an Ice Age or in the middle of Nuclear War.
Man doesn't know how to control ones own power.

## Post 7 by Twinklestar09 (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Thursday, 19-Apr-2007 13:46:56

Yes, I think gun laws should be stricter. I actually wonder if there would be less crime if we all were not allowed to carry guns. I don't even think police officers would need guns then, as they have other ways they can bring down a person if they need to and without killing/seriously wounding them with a bullet. I don't know. To me, having guns at all just doesn't make sense but that's just me. I used to think that if we're going to have guns, the only people that should be allowed to have them are hunters and police officers, but now that I had recently seen a device on an infomercial on a gun that shoots pepperspray instead of bullets, I don't think bullet guns are actually necessary, unless it's maybe for hunting, and for that of course, a person should have a license for that (which I think is already a law.).
I feel sorry for the people that died as well as their families that won't get to see them anymore. But I also feel sorry for the shooter. When he was reaching out for help thru his behavior and when others pointed this out to authorities, noone noticed or really took it seriously. Like he was temporarily put in psychiatric care but then released (I wonder how long he stayed in there). Or when he was writing those plays that depicted people displaying so much anger and wanting to kill certain people and his teacher was concerned over that, but when she went to tell someone (I think counselors or colleagues/bosses, they didn't think it was anything serious. I'm not saying he was right to do what he did, but I think that's how some of these things happen; the person just decides they don't care anymore about anything because they feel like noone else seems to really listen to them anyway. I know we can easily say that he could've easily gotten help if he asked, but I think people are different on that: some can say directly "Hey, something's wrong with me; I need to get help", and others just act strangely/differently. In this case, it was what that guy was writing, and the teacher picked up on that. But because he was said to be normally quiet, noone else really thought anything of it. Even some people who, do, say something's wrong with them sometimes aren't taken seriously. That's how my mom had had a nervous breakdown at one point, because her boss made them work with not many breaks, but when she told him something was wrong with her, he dismissed her complaints. (She didn't feel like she could quit because she and Dad were paying for a house, and I guess that job brought in a good pay.)
But yeah, I think besides, at least, stricter gun laws, people should pay more attention to people who might seem either different from how they normally are, or who talk/write about inappropriate topics too easily/often or that behave or want to behave violently towards others. I think that's why a lot of young people these days are bad, because most people are too busy to really take time and pay attention and people behaving/thinking unusually even if it involves violence, (like people who write such songs and us seeing it on TV all the time), is so common, so it doesn’t really surprise others/get their attention until something big actually happens.