I'm sorry this happened. I don't know what to say without sounding fake, or awkward, so I'll keep it simple.
I hate violence. I hate that it's possible for people--students, strangers, anyone--to enter a campus, and just open fire. "Sitting ducks," I think the phrase is, for those students who were in that auditorium. I hate that anyone has ever had to experience anything like this.I hate that they died. I hate that I know that they died, because now I feel like I am expected to do something about it. And, to be honest, I don't want to do anything about it. I want someone else to take care of it; I don't want to know that somewhere else, in the middle of my country, people are grieving, when they should be counting Valentine's or eating their candy other people gave them, or enjoying the flowers they were given. I just want to be wrapped up in my own problems, and not have to worry about anyone else's. But I still find myself asking the question, "How many of those six students were someone's loved one, had a happy family that only wanted the best for them? Did they know they were going to die on Valentine's Day?"
I'm sorry for that person, Stephen Kazmierczak, who killed those students. What is it about my generation, that we must respond to the world with violence? We are the future--some future we are shaping up to be. I know I can't blame my generation, or my parents' generation, but I wish I could; that would be a simple answer to a complex problem that I have no idea how to solve.
Here's a timeline, since 1989, of the major school shootings that have happened in the United States. Of them, I only remember hearing about five, including the shooting that happened yesterday.
1989-Stockton massacre.
1991-University of Iowa shooting.
1992-Simon's Rock College of Bard shooting, Lindhurst High School shooting.
1993-East Carter High School shooting.
1995-Richland High School shooting.
1996-Frontier Junior High shooting.
1997-Bethel High School shooting, Pearl High School shooting, Heath High School shooting.
1998-Jonesboro massacre, Parker Middle School shooting, Thurston High School shooting.
1999-Columbine High School massacre, Heritage High School shooting.
2000-Buell Elementary School shooting.
2001-Santana High School shooting, Granite Hills High School shooting.
2002-Appalachian School of Law shooting.
2003-John McDonogh High School shooting, Red Lion Area Junior High School shootings, Case Western Reserve University shooting, Rocori High School shootings.
2005-Red Lake High School massacre, Campbell County High School shooting.
2006-Pine Middle School shooting, Essex Elementary School shooting, Platte Canyon High School shooting, Amish school shooting, Weston High School shooting.
2007-Virginia Tech massacre, Deleware State University Shooting, Success Tech Academy shooting.
2008-Notre Dame Elementary shooting, Louisiana Technical College shooting, Mitchel High School shooting, E.O. Junior High School shooting, Northern Illinois University shooting.
Why isn't the majority of America responding to this? Not just the NIU shooting, but all the shootings? We have already had five shootings for this year--this year that we have only been in for roughly two months. Is society so numbed that no one, including myself, wishes to face facts and make a change? Don't tell me that it's impossible, that you can't track down each and every person that buys a gun with the specific intent to walk onto a campus and kill the future of America. I'm not that delusional, or that hopeful. I wish it was that easy. I already said that I wish there was an easy answer. I wish there was an answer, period. There has to be more to the equation than just smiling or talking to the social outcasts. And if there isn't, then that thought is just as frightening, for it means that we have the answer, we just aren't pursuing it. We, the school kids, are letting other people get killed through our negligence. I don't know about everyone else, but if that is true, then I for one am guilty as charged. And that makes me feel rotten.
I apologize. I said in the beginning of this entry that I wanted to "keep it simple." Since I very obviously did not, I will, at least, try to end on an easier note.
I'm sorry. I feel for the NIU students, for all of them. I feel for Stephen. I started to write at the start of this essay that I "extend my sincere sympathies to the NIU students," but stopped, because it sounds awkward, and false, and nervous. Now I think I can say it better, after talking out my personal feelings.
I'm sorry. I'm sending you all the comfort I can possibly give you. I don't even know if this message will reach any of you, but if it does, please, please know this: you are in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers.
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That is why I think we should vote for a president who is going to make gun control laws more strict. It sounds like in this most recent case though that this kid had gone off of his medicine so, it might have not been just an "evil" person doing this or what not. I just wish someone would have talked to him. We really need to watch out for our friends and talk to the people who are always alone. They most likely want someone to talk to, but they are too shy or whatever. Maybe if someone had talked to the boy who shot the kids at Lousiania Tech, maybe this would have never happened. I mean even his roommates said they did not even know his name until long after he had moved in....I do not know...It is just really sad.