April 17, 2007

So Far


The NYT's front-page headline today read, "32 Shot Dead in Virginia; Worst U.S. Gun Rampage"

In my mind's ear, I heard an unwritten coda: so far

Worst U.S. Gun Rampage So Far

Worst U.S. Gun Rampage Yet

Remember how earth-shattering the Columbine shootings were? I was in college admissions that year, and it seemed like every other essay was about those shootings and how they had changed the world of high school students forever. Remember how the attacks of 9-11 pushed Columbine into the past?

I am so sad and bewildered to be living in these times in which each new atrocity seems unthinkable, right up until someone thinks up a new one.

I feel what anyone feels. I don't think I have much new to add to the conversation. But I do mourn, both for the friends and loved ones of the fallen, and for the rest of us.

And I wish the commentators would stop talking about "motive." Motive, to me, is in the family of cause-and-effect, useful by way of explanation. What possible cause or explanation could there be?

4 comments:

Wendy said...

horrors!

i think about our sons and worry about the world we have brought them to. i worry for their safety.

the first thing i said to robert when he told me the news was, "i'm seriously thinking about home school".

violence of any kind hurts me deeply and i find (since my own horror on 9/11) that i must avoid the news as much as possible in order to remain positive.

Stacy said...

Well said.

Nancy Bea Miller said...

I had the exact same, bitter, little thought..."so far". So sad.

Andromeda Jazmon said...

You are right, it is so sad and bewildering. I feel manipulated by the media in the way the story is presented though. They are setting us up to think that "so far"... Almost like it's a hook for their next story. How would it be different if telling the news wasn't a way to make a profit?