Prayers going out for the people in Virginia
 

Another campus shooting. :(

:Sob: it's so sad. i don't know what to say. just adding my sympathy to the family and friends...and lots of prayers.

33 people dead (including 1 shooter). 29 injured. Worst school shooting in the history of the United States.

We have got to do something about the rage that teenage boys and young man are striking out with.

And we have got to make sure our kids are safe. Students were not notified until two hours after the first shooting (they were notified by email and IM and phone-tree). TWO HOURS in which students could have gotten away or gotten secured. There is no way to notify students campus-wide that there is crisis.

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Please, parents, check the security in your children's schools. What are the notification procedures? How easy is it for strangers to get into buildings? How would students and staff and faculty be notified if another multiple-location shooting like today's happened?? How would students and staff and faculty be notified if there were a real bomb threat or if a plane crashed into a building or if a gas or oil pipeline ruptured. How are students and staff and faculty kept safe?

If your kid goes to kindergarten or elementary school or middle school or high school or college or university -- make sure you know the answers to these questions.


Barb

there are really no words that can express how I feel about this

As the wail of grief and anguish rises up to heaven after this immense tragedy,
I pray for the Comfort of God for the students and families and friends impacted, and for the sustenance of life for those injured.

http://bestsmileys.com/crying/5.gif

My daughter works on Tech Campus in the Biology dept. She's in charge of all the lab animals. She was locked in her office for several hours before they began evacuating.

Why they didn't lock down the campus earlier than they did is a mystery. Perhaps they could have prevented some of the deaths that occurred in Norris Hall if they had.

I'm so glad your daughter is ok!!!!
{{{HUGS}}}}

Thank you! So am I. She's pregnant with my first grandchild. I was scared spitless. She works mainly in one of the teaching halls and "there but for the grace of God..."

I'm so heartbroken for the families of the all of the victims. Blacksburg and Va Tech campus are a safe place! Or were until today. Blacksburg is a small, friendly town. I've lived there and loved it. I just can't fathom all this.

I'm glad to hear that your daughter is alright too! What a terrrible and horrific tragedy. I'm in Australia and they were talking earlier with an Aussie girl who's there on campus on an exchange. She was saying what a safe place the town itself was. In fact she said she felt safer walking around there than she did in her own home town here. Now of course she just wants to come home.

This is an unbelievably heartbreaking tragedy. We experienced a mall shooting recently where I live. I didn't know anyone involved but it was an a mall we used to go to as a family but hadn't been there for a while.

Jarette,

I can't even imagine how frightened you were. So glad your daughter is all right.

We really need to be praying for the people involved that God would help them heal emotionally.

Judy

a terrible tragedy

i think i heard it was a gun free zone-if i have kids ill never send them to such a campus or live in a gun free city-they have more crime-tons more

give me a conservative town

Gun free zone? Well, most schools I know of *are* gun-free zones for obvious reasons. But in Virginia, in the area of Tech Campus and all the areas I've lived in guns are a normal part of life. Not Glock semi-auto handguns though. I know some people have them. But gun ownership has always been a part of the culture here. I own a muzzle loader myself. I hunt. I also have a handgun, a small one and I used to have a 30.6. Guns aren't the problem in this instance. It was a person with known mental problems that wasn't monitored as he should have been. This article sums up what I'm saying and is specifically about the shooter:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=9604940

They thought the first shootings were just a domestic dispute of sorts - but the shooter hid out and went to the second place hrs later.

I'm curious to hear more on this shooter- if he was always angry, troubled or disturbed or if something totally set him off.

Just another reason to keep your head up always and be aware of everything going on around you.
this could happen anywhere.... sad

"for obvious reasons"? because? starting in what year?1933? or what?cant americans buy a gun when theyre 18 anyway?

i dont see your logic

guess ill not go to college where its unsafe but move to a redneck town maybe and learn by internet-damn schools for kids arent safe either

gees with thinking like that ... College tuition fees will be real cheap . If he didnt have his hands on a gun or two dont ya think hed of used something else and been just as tragic an out come?????????????????
Virgina is one of the most beautiful FRIENDLY places I have been to in the usa! I plan to move there in 2010. I was in Blackburg this past march b.t.w. I live in daytona beach where crime is big time bad beatings of homeless people .... home invasions.... i could make a huge list we do have a serial killer of prostitutes here in daytona still at large. study the gun laws for florida! hate is everywhere......
cant we all just :hug: have peace with one another cus that is what will stop all the hate!!!!!
MY HEART GOES OUT TO ALL THOSE who are affected by this horrible, sad event. My daughter knows of 3 who attend all are safe . words do little to fill the emptyness sadness and the shock.May God above reach down and comfort those in pain and grief.I pray all the friends and famlies over come this tragic even and beome stronger because of it.
PEACE and LOVE
BWM...Tina

By federal law all schools are designated drug and gun free zones. I have no idea what you're talking about.

starting in what year?

what year were those laws passed?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_School_Zones_Act

you mean that?

YES JARRET, all schools are drug and gun free zones. at our middle and high schools we have police that walk the campuses. whos to say a unstable person would not get a hold of their ( the police) gun and go nuts on campus? or pour toxic stuff in the lunch food ... ect.
It is the person and nothing else. tho I do think the campus should of been on lock down after the first shootings... it is after the fact and nothing can be changed and nothing can bring back any of those SMART BRAVE YOUNG SOULS! :Sob: :Sob: :Sob: The whole country lost some awesome people yesterday! God Bless us all ...amen!
maybe we should keep this thread for prayers as that is what this is for and have a seprate thread about gun laws????

That I couldn't tell you without some research. But anytime you go near a school you'll see a sign that says that and also student handbooks contain the information as well. My best guess would be they enacted a law after the Columbine shootings. Before that I guess we were all naive about the potential for violence on school campuses.

Ah! What came to mind and I saw this first hand is that most places were lax about enforcing rules. A pocket knife, for example, was no big deal. Not anymore. As a matter of fact they're going to the other extreme. One thing to keep in mind about Wiki is that because of it's very nature it's not considered a reputable resource for quoting. It has no *reliable* source(s). I, myself, like Wiki just because it can get me to basic information and lead me to other resources. Thanks for the link.

Most schools themselves have a policy on drugs, weapons even gang clothing. But there are always those that break the rules.

But we are getting off from the original reason of the post - so lets try to stay within the topic.
[prayers, meditation, and expressions of spirituality]

Thank you

A discussion of the gun/weapons @ schools issue can be started on the Social Chat forum.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

My heart goes out to the family and friends of those students. The one to blame is gone. I don't think it's right to blame anyone else. Extra security measures and laws can be put in place, but I'm not sure if it's possible to protect ourselves against anger and hatred in people. We'd only be imprisoning ourselves. :confused:

I hope the media won't continue to hound the people effected by this. Some of their questions are very insensitive and exploitative. I hope they give the families and friends a little room to heal. I wouldn't want to have cameras zoom in on me when I'm crying and grieving from such an open wound.

and lets not forget to pray for the family of the shooter......
:(

Absolutely. His family must be devastated. As devastated as all the rest of the families. This is something they will all carry with them for the rest of their lives and beyond. :(

I cant begin to imagine how the family of the shooter must be feeling....their own grief at losing a son multiplied by the enormity of what he did:(

We also need to pray for the senior students at VT....it is just weeks away from their final exams............

:grouphug:

even all the koreans worldwide feel shame the news says - i gues s thats their culture that does that to them

Hi Clouds :)

I suspect he had problems fitting in from the time he came here and never learned any social skills. He was probably considered an oddball from the beginning, especially if he lived outside of a South Korean neighborhood. He probably didn't learn how to interact with other people, and he didn't learn how to release anger/frustration constructively.

I won't blame the parents on this though. Is it true they've been hospitalized due to shock over this? Parents are responsible for their children, but it's not fair to blame them - there's no "one size fits all" manual for raising sound children. :rolleyes:

Not to change the subject, but I worry about the trend of home-schooling and how these home-schooled kids will fit into college life without parental supervision. I know many seem to do well, but there's not much emphasis on social skills or learning how to deal with peer pressure or other stressors in life.

( kathy...on the home school issue..yep i agree that is the way for some. but the trend now is to have group sports...PE classes for home schooled kids. this gives them the social interaction and friends they need..without the classroom distractions that can bother some kids. we have such classes at our club. i do know some home schooled kids, who i would agree with you..have big time problems interacting with other kids :( . they tend to steer towards adults in conversations)

I haven't been SICKENED by the news in a long-long time.

Usually, I just get heart-sick. There's always warning signs that were ignored when we look back.

In Cho Seung-Hui's case, I feel like throwing up. So many warnings signs. All you have to do is look into his eyes -- he's got the "dead eyes" of a person who will commit suicide.

My heart just aches for all the victims and the heroes that were killed by Cho Seung-Hui.

I know from personal experience that you can't force a person to participate in psychotherapy :(

We, as a society, have GOT TO find a way to help people that are SCREAMING for help. We HAVE TO.




Another thought:

Bob Diedle (sp??) was on the news today. He's the security person that used to appear on Don Imus's show. I didn't like his image on Imus's show. He did say something today that made a lot of sense: cellphones and blackberries and other technology like that did not work right after 9-11 -- the services weren't available. What was available was low-tech pagers. A lot of colleges and universities are giving ALL of their students and faculty text pagers when they join the campus -- this gives them a way to get messages to all their students and faculty in a very efficient way.

If I had a student going to a 'split' campus (a school or college of university that is located in more than one building), I would make sure that they have a system for contacting everyone during a crisis-- a system that still works during power failures and cellphone failures.


Barb http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...sad-candle.gif

I send many many prayers to the shooters family .I cant phantom how they are feeling right now but I pray they will realize it was not their fault and that like the shooter they too are forgiven . this is sooo sooo tragic all I can feel is sad and empty and all I can do is say prayers for the world.
Peace :grouphug:
BMW

I wanted to add that when I was in highschool a boy shoot some of my class mates back in the 80s he did not take his own life but is in prison for life... so this V tech thing touches me big time in more ways then one :(

In the days of yore there was murder and murderers but the main thing was to what extent or number could be killed with a pitchfork ot a hammer or whatever was available.

You can kill anyone with just about anything it is in the number of people that can be killed with just one gun.

There is no such a societal value to being able to carry out mass murder so if anyone says it is there culture then god help us all.

I don't do a lot of things but having the implements to do such a thing makes it so much easier.

I hear all who own guns say it is the person who does the adeed and not the gun.

uh huh

The deed lies in the heart of the perpetrator and not the gun eh.

Think about this.

Guns are the ONLY way he could do it.

You cant rely on germs or bacteria or even rabies contamination .........

YOU GOTTA HAVE A GUN

OUCH Thelma not even one word of sympathy or a prayer for all those affected by the horrific events at V-Tech ...just your view on guns???? That is your right but wrong thread ..I think there is one about guns in social chat.
Thelma God Bless You!!!!!!!!!

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:grouphug:

Too simple. This guy may have been psychotic but he was far from unintelligent. It was not beyond him to have built a bomb. He was connected to a bomb threat the previous Friday. How many more would have died then? Ok City was such an example. :(

I feel bad for him and his family. Such pain that he felt doing what he did was the only solution. He was not in his right mind. Many factors came into what happened.

Beautiful Chemar.
:hug:
Peace Peace
BMW

Several of my friends graduated from VA Tech, and there are children of other friends who go there still. Thankfully, no one from our town was hurt, but my heart feels much pain for the students and families who weren't so lucky. Since our governor declared today and official day of mourning, I dug out my Va Tech shirt and bought some for my kids so we could wear them all day long. But when something that overwhelming happens, you wish and wish that there was something more substantial you could do.

i am sorry i posted here today as I am not even religious. I guess I was looking for dialoge on what we can do to stop it happening again. We obviously didn't learn from any others.

I thought someone here would be able to see the picture from another side and comment but not to be.

Hi Thelma

dialogue is good

and yes, we do need to learn from these tragedies from all perspectives

we had just decided earlier in this thread to keep this for prayer and sympathy for the victims and to take our discussion of the social and political and ethical/moral etc etc ramifications to the Social Chat forum rather than here

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