VT... part 2

A "very good friend" of mine (You know who you are...^_^ ) read my last blog post and took issue with my points in my very short post.

So I think now would be a good time to further explain what I meant in it.

Take no offense; please do not think I'm trying to be political about something like this, cause that would just suck.

Honor the victims...

As unbelievable as it may sound, I have run across forums with people alternately expressing sympathy for the "troubled" shooter, and then blaming the victims for what? - I don't know. But it's disgusting, and I frankly don't even want to try to understand such a mindset.

Honoring the victims means *not* bringing up the war on terror and saying "people are dying in Iraq and I'm supposed to feel sorry for 30 people?!" (As I've also seen on forums...)

It also means refraining from the irrestistible urge of voeyerism.
I mean really. Just imagine it happened to YOUR child, your sister, your wife or husband.
And a media outlet just happens to feel the need to run pictures of a dying student.
Would YOU like to turn on the TV and see your daughter/ son the way you'd least like to remember them? I wouldn't.
That doesn't mean shying away from showing the true evil of it all. Show the vigils. Show the empty classrooms. Show the evacuations. Gosh, even show the blood.

But for the sake of decency, give the dead (and their families!) some respect.

....Forget about the shooter.
Was it really neccessary - as my local paper did? - to show huge, full paper spreads of EXACTLY what Cho wanted?
Such pure sensationalism does nothing except bring torment to those who had to see him as he killed, and in a sense, honor the killer.

....But don't turn on his family.
I understand, in a time like this, it's easy to try to lay blame. And there is a point where placing blame is necessary.

How many of you have siblings? Or children? I know to lose my brother would be torture enough, but to have to accept that he was evil enough to kill so many? It's incomprehinsible.
The family has done nothing.
Everyone wants to see the best in their relatives, and really, how many people would think someone they love is capable of this?
Hindsight is 20/20. Do you think they haven't already gone over in their heads over and over what they could have done?
Don't make it worse by placing ignorant blame on those who did nothing.

Be thankful for what you have and stand up for your rights.

Already, some are using this tragedy as an excuse to try to take away 2nd Amendment rights. Don't stand by idly and do nothing! Stand up for your rights.

We will never understand why it happened, what caused it, and what it was like. Don't try to explain what it was like if you weren't there. Don't try to simplify the causes because it wasn't you. And don't try to explain what you don't know.

God Bless VT.