Making Sense Out Of The Senseless

April 18, 2007

Now that the smoke is settling from the Virginia Technical College shootings, people have started searching for answers, to try to make some sense of it all. People the world over are asking, why? What made this young man do such a heinous act?

As I previously mentioned, gun control advocates jumped on this right away, as they usually do. ‘Coulda,’ ‘woulda,’ ‘shoulda’ doesn’t help, but they never pass up a chance to further their agenda.

Records have surfaced showing the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, a Korean who has been living in the U.S. for 17 years, was a very troubled individual. He was labeled as a danger to himself and to society in 2005 and was supposed to be receiving outpatient care.

As easy as it is to point fingers and say the “system” let him and everyone down, just who is the “system?” We are!

We have allowed ourselves to become so Politically Correct that a troubled individual like Cho can fall through the cracks. We don’t want to make records available to authorities and those who should know about him, so as not to “harm his future.” So, when a person like this goes to buy a gun to carry out such a premeditated massacre, nothing appears in the required background check.

Troubling to me is just who associated with Cho? Surely someone did and turned a blind eye to his conduct leading up to this. Or, was it a case of don’t worry, kids are just kids? Who knows now?

Much has been made of what he wrote on his arm, "Ismail Ax." A deranged mind? Something from literature? Possibly a reference to Islam, as some believe? We may never know. Watching videos and reading the ‘manifesto’ he sent to NBC News between the shootings sheds a little light, but not enough to know for sure. They could be just as easily interpreted to be Muslim outrage as they could be a criminally deranged mind. However, I have seen or read nothing to indicate he had any dealings with Islam.

Franklin Graham, up and coming Preacher son of Billy Graham, says Satan is Behind the Virginia Tech Killings. Pope Benedict XVI calls the shootings a senseless tragedy. Even Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, released a statement saying, "Attacking innocent people, irrespective of their race and nationality, is contrary to divine and human values no matter which group or person carries out such an act under any name." (Let’s hope they come to feel that way towards Israel).

So, how do we make sense out of this? We don’t! We can’t! The only explanation is there is inherent evil in the world. Even among the mentally disturbed, there is evil. Some things are beyond our understanding. We will never make sense out of them.

There is no magic government program. No special chant. No Psychobabble book written to understand. No special classes in school. For whatever reason, evil comes over some people and we must deal with them.

How, is a different matter. Our current Politically Correct System isn’t working. Red flags thrown up were ignored or not seen. Trying to make everybody “feel good about them selves” by prescription doesn’t always work. Disarming legitimate gun owners just leaves us more defenseless. Finger pointing at each other doesn’t do it, either.

I don’t have an answer. It is as senseless to me as it is to you. One thing I’m sure of, though. Had there been two more guns on campus Monday, Cho’s carnage could have been stopped long before he reached 32 dead.

It is certain, though, that we as a society had better come up with an answer soon. An answer that moves us away from the liberal wishy washy, feel good direction we have been moving towards.

Lew