Monday was a relatively chilly day in Blacksburg, Va. The high was only 52 degrees, 10 degrees colder than average. The wind was high. These are the only elements of the tragedy I can understand.
There are so many issues raised by what happened at Virginia Tech. I don’t begin to think I can offer a conclusive opinion on any of them. Instead, I want to begin a few dialogues spun off from this catastrophic event.
First, our country needs tougher gun control. No civilian on the face of this planet needs a semiautomatic weapon for protection. No one needs a handgun.
Logistically speaking, Monday’s crimes were made possible by access to these weapons. The extra ammunition in a typical semi-automatic gun combined with the ease of use make semi-automatic pistols much more dangerous than single-shot guns and revolvers. The access to such powerful weapons, rather than leveling the playing field, grossly shifts the balance of power to the gun-holder.
That said, promoters of American gun culture aren’t responsible for this massacre. Nor are they blameless. I grew up in Rugby, N.D., a town where I saw a man wearing a holstered gun walk into the bakery on Main Street. I have seen gun racks in homes and pick-up trucks. But I have seen the most guns on television and at the movies. Worse than video games like Grand Theft Auto, these shows promote a realism in which reasonable characters frequently employ firearms. I don’t think the saturation of our culture with firearms creates killers, but I do think it keeps murder fantasies alive.
Also, Northwestern must reevaluate campus security, but they shouldn’t reorganize with this massive tragedy in mind. Last weekend, one of my roommates was punched in the face as he walked by a group of about eight men crossing Sheridan Road on his way to Jones Residential College. The attackers then chased my friend, with no apparent intention of mugging him. They simply wanted to beat him. We must ensure that security provides actual benefits to our students. The university must offer some protection from the sort of massacre we saw at Virginia Tech. But more than that, NU should ensure that our students are safe from all forms of abuse on campus, day or night.
More than anything, this tragedy serves as an example of the value of our fragile existences. Our life’s end is often unpredictable and arbitrary. The students at Virginia Tech were not actors in some grand design any more than you or me. And now, they belong to a long human history of suffering. Even in the face of such catastrophe, we must embrace our delicate lives.
Before my father died of esophageal cancer, he wrote a book about hope. It seems to me, in a world of unceasing tragedies, that it is our only defense.