On behalf of our family, we are so deeply sorry for the devastation my brother has caused. No words can express our sadness that 32 innocent people lost their lives this week in such a terrible, senseless tragedy. We are heartbroken.
We grieve alongside the families, the Virginia Tech community, our State of Virginia, and the rest of the nation. And, the world.
Every day since April 16, my father, mother and I pray for students Ross Abdallah Alameddine, Brian Roy Bluhm, Ryan Christopher Clark, Austin Michelle Cloyd, Matthew Gregory Gwaltney, Caitlin Millar Hammaren, Jeremy Michael Herbstritt, Rachael Elizabeth Hill, Emily Jane Hilscher, Jarrett Lee Lane, Matthew Joseph La Porte, Henry J. Lee, Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan, Lauren Ashley McCain, Daniel Patrick O'Neil, J. Ortiz-Ortiz, Minal Hiralal Panchal, Daniel Alejandro Perez, Erin Nicole Peterson, Michael Steven Pohle, Jr., Julia Kathleen Pryde, Mary Karen Read, Reema Joseph Samaha, Waleed Mohamed Shaalan, Leslie Geraldine Sherman, Maxine Shelly Turner, Nicole White, Instructor Christopher James Bishop, and Professors Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, Kevin P. Granata, Liviu Librescu and G.V. Loganathan.
We pray for their families and loved ones who are experiencing so much excruciating grief. And we pray for those who were injured and for those whose lives are changed forever because of what they witnessed and experienced.
Each of these people had so much love, talent and gifts to offer, and their lives were cut short by a horrible and senseless act.
We are humbled by this darkness. We feel hopeless, helpless and lost. This is someone that I grew up with and loved. Now I feel like I didn't know this person.
We have always been a close, peaceful and loving family. My brother was quiet and reserved, yet struggled to fit in. We never could have envisioned that he was capable of so much violence.
He has made the world weep. We are living a nightmare.
There is much justified anger and disbelief at what my brother did, and a lot of questions are left unanswered. Our family will continue to cooperate fully and do whatever we can to help authorities understand why these senseless acts happened. We have many unanswered questions as well.
Our family is so very sorry for my brother's unspeakable actions. It is a terrible tragedy for all of us.
Showing posts with label Virginia Tech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virginia Tech. Show all posts
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Blaming others doesn't help
This has nothing to do with libraries, but here are some of my feelings of recent days and I'm a librarian...
Hind sight is always 20/20 – but we don’t have the benefits ahead of time by its very nature. It is hind sight.
-Blaming others after the fact isn’t going to undo what was done at VT.
-Blaming others isn’t going to stop rampages in the future, either.
Evil is evil – and like it or not – it resides in all of us. The sooner we realize this is the real problem, the sooner we can address real issues and real solutions.
Every person has within him/herself the potential for violence. Fortunately, most of us don’t act upon it. Yet, we, as a culture, are so paranoid about privacy that it also contributed to what happened Monday. Had the counseling center and the police department and the faculty of the university been able to share what each other knew – it would have put up a bigger red flag. Instead they each had a piece of one and each one on its own didn’t look that damning.
Blaming the President of VT or the university police doesn’t help anything, either – not really. They just become targets of our grief and anger over what has happened. This is not constructive, proactive solutions. There were people who tried to reach out to Seung-hui. But, according to news reports, no one could break through, – not even his mother. There comes a point in time where people have to decide they want help or they want to change. No one else is to blame for what Seung-hui did. Stop the blame-shifting.
On the other hand each of us needs to take responsibility ourselves in how we treat others and how we allow our children to threat others. If you want to blame “someone else" – blame those who picked on and teased Seung-hui as he was growing up. We should examine ourselves and ask what are we doing to contribute to the breakdown of another person. Ultimately, I think, this goes back to the breakdown of the family unit, in this country and in this world.
If you will look at the crime rate since the 60’s you will see how it has sky-rocketed. Psychologists were so afraid that if we discipline our children we would warp their little psyche. Now we are reaping the seeds we have sown. Better to warp their little bottoms then to worry about their little psyche. And don’t tell me about those who use this abusively. I know that happens. But the percentage of that is very low compared to the populace. Don’t throw out the whole bushel of apples because one apple is rotten. Throw out the rotten apple. Deal with the abuser, but don’t stop the discipline. You can preserve the rest of the bushel this way.
Another thing, people, like a certain “pastor” (and I use that word reluctantly) in Topeka, KS don’t help the situation any. That does nothing to minister to those who are hurting. His actions don’t advance the kingdom of God. Whether I agree with his message or not, I am disgusted by his actions and those of his followers. I am not even going to name him because the more the media reports on him the more attention he gets. Media needs to ignore him. Scripture tells us to teach truth in love. There is no love in this man for the sinner. He shows just as much hatred as those “on the other side of evil.” What good does that do? NONE. He’s no better than a commentator on TV news I heard that was name- calling, labeling Seung-hui a maniac among other things. That doesn’t help anyone either. What good does that accomplish? That just stirs up more hatred.
Yes, what Seung-hui did was awful and upsetting and wrong, but what this “preacher” and that “commentator” are saying is just as upsetting. And, it’s disgusting.
Yes, each person in this world is responsible for his or her own actions. But blaming others solves nothing.
Right now, friends and families are hurting and grieving, including the Cho family. What an opportunity to reach out and minister to all those people in love. WOW! Let’s stop the blame game.
Hind sight is always 20/20 – but we don’t have the benefits ahead of time by its very nature. It is hind sight.
-Blaming others after the fact isn’t going to undo what was done at VT.
-Blaming others isn’t going to stop rampages in the future, either.
Evil is evil – and like it or not – it resides in all of us. The sooner we realize this is the real problem, the sooner we can address real issues and real solutions.
Every person has within him/herself the potential for violence. Fortunately, most of us don’t act upon it. Yet, we, as a culture, are so paranoid about privacy that it also contributed to what happened Monday. Had the counseling center and the police department and the faculty of the university been able to share what each other knew – it would have put up a bigger red flag. Instead they each had a piece of one and each one on its own didn’t look that damning.
Blaming the President of VT or the university police doesn’t help anything, either – not really. They just become targets of our grief and anger over what has happened. This is not constructive, proactive solutions. There were people who tried to reach out to Seung-hui. But, according to news reports, no one could break through, – not even his mother. There comes a point in time where people have to decide they want help or they want to change. No one else is to blame for what Seung-hui did. Stop the blame-shifting.
On the other hand each of us needs to take responsibility ourselves in how we treat others and how we allow our children to threat others. If you want to blame “someone else" – blame those who picked on and teased Seung-hui as he was growing up. We should examine ourselves and ask what are we doing to contribute to the breakdown of another person. Ultimately, I think, this goes back to the breakdown of the family unit, in this country and in this world.
If you will look at the crime rate since the 60’s you will see how it has sky-rocketed. Psychologists were so afraid that if we discipline our children we would warp their little psyche. Now we are reaping the seeds we have sown. Better to warp their little bottoms then to worry about their little psyche. And don’t tell me about those who use this abusively. I know that happens. But the percentage of that is very low compared to the populace. Don’t throw out the whole bushel of apples because one apple is rotten. Throw out the rotten apple. Deal with the abuser, but don’t stop the discipline. You can preserve the rest of the bushel this way.
Another thing, people, like a certain “pastor” (and I use that word reluctantly) in Topeka, KS don’t help the situation any. That does nothing to minister to those who are hurting. His actions don’t advance the kingdom of God. Whether I agree with his message or not, I am disgusted by his actions and those of his followers. I am not even going to name him because the more the media reports on him the more attention he gets. Media needs to ignore him. Scripture tells us to teach truth in love. There is no love in this man for the sinner. He shows just as much hatred as those “on the other side of evil.” What good does that do? NONE. He’s no better than a commentator on TV news I heard that was name- calling, labeling Seung-hui a maniac among other things. That doesn’t help anyone either. What good does that accomplish? That just stirs up more hatred.
Yes, what Seung-hui did was awful and upsetting and wrong, but what this “preacher” and that “commentator” are saying is just as upsetting. And, it’s disgusting.
Yes, each person in this world is responsible for his or her own actions. But blaming others solves nothing.
Right now, friends and families are hurting and grieving, including the Cho family. What an opportunity to reach out and minister to all those people in love. WOW! Let’s stop the blame game.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
