Commentary; Posted: 5/9/07
The Virginia Tech tragedy
Rev. John C. Blackford,
Religion Columnist
Virginia Tech is a university of over 20,000 students located on a 2600 acre campus in southwestern Virginia in the city of Blacksburg.
The writer and his wife have driven through the school grounds in this beautiful low mountain setting, where there is also a nearby hospital in which a granddaughter worked briefly as a nurse.
It was not where anyone could imagine the awful tragedy of Monday, April 16 would take place.
Wielding two pistols the gunman, a student at the school, opened fire about 7:15 a.m. in a dormitory and killed two residents. Two hours later he entered a classroom on the other side of the campus and chained the doors to prevent escape. He then went on a rampage that left 30 more students dead, and then turned a gun on himself.
Who was the gunman who committed what has been described as the worst crime of this type in our history?
Seung-Hui Cho was the 23-year-old son of South Koreans who came to this country when he was nine years old, and who were operating a small business in Blacksburg.
He was known as being very much to himself and without friends. He had a history of mental problems, but no one anticipated he would become a mass killer. Authorities at the school have sent out a questionnaire asking students in the dormitory where the shootings began whether they had any interaction with Cho and why he would attack the victims.
It is hoped the results will help investigators.
In the days that followed there were memorial services on the campus and funeral services in the communities from which the young people had come.
Across the nation people were deeply moved by this tragedy, and many recalled other school shootings that took the lives of young students. Some have questioned why school authorities took no action to secure the campus after the first shootings. Apparently there was confusion at the time, and they had no realization there would be another outbreak.
One of the results of this sad event is that educational institutions around the nation are strengthening their security systems to prevent similar disasters.
Are tragedies of this nature more or less frequent than in the past?
Actually, they have always been present in society. In Jesus’ day there were terrible atrocities, some of them committed by the Roman authorities.
It is helpful to remember the Lord’s words in St. Luke 17:1 (New International Version): “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come.”
Jesus followed this pronouncement with words of condemnation for the transgressor, but then with instructions to forgive those who repent, as difficult as this may be.
We shall probably never know what motivated the Virginia Tech mass killer, or what was in the thinking of others who have committed despicable crimes against innocent people.
Sadly, there will be other such senseless tragedies, in spite of all we do to protect ourselves.
We cannot live in fear, and yet, with all the uncertainties in life, it behooves us to be ready to meet our Maker at any time.
May we have that assurance that comes with a vital faith.
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