Viola's Dreamworld

Sunday, April 22, 2007

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Article Title: US College Massacre: Killer was S. Korean Student
Dated 18 April 2007
Source: The STs
And also its follow-up articles in the days thereafter.

The largest massacre in modern US history was carried out only recently last week, whereby the killer, a South Korean student, carried out his work at a US university and killed 22 people, before killing himself.

It is a mystery the actual cause behind his actions. Spectulations include a love triangle and anger, just to say the least.

This article led me to contemplate the results and consequences of our actions. Unknowingly, the students at the university may have offended the killer. We ought to rethink our actions and how we have treated others. A kind word goes a long way, but so does a mean retort. A simple or seemingly harmless retort can change the live of a person forever. Peronally, I believe that one of the main causes for the killer's outbreak was due to him being ostracised by his fellow peers. He was a quiet boy since young, but perhaps if someone was willing to stay by him and listen he would have opened up, and none of this would have happened. Perhaps because he felt outcasted by his peers and their jeering at him led him to an inner explosion of feelings, therefore leading to him taking so many innocent lives.

Till now, police are still trying to find clues and links that may perhaps explain the rationale behind his actions.

Yet in the midst of adversity, stories of true hope and courage emerge. I was deeply touched when I read about how a professor guarded his classroom door with his own body against the killer in a bid to earn some time so that his students may escape unscathed. He could have chosen to flee the moment he heard the gunshots, but he chose instead to stay and protect his students, despite his age. Now, this is what I call true courage. Thanks to his selflessness, many lives were saved. I am filled with deep respect for this professor, who put his students' lives above his own. Needless to say, he was brutally shot by the killer and did not survive. But his work and legacy, I believe, will stay on for generations to come.

This incident also led to the question of how reliable blogs are in providing news to the public. During the killings, students were told to stay in their rooms and hide for safety (announced via email and the public loudspeakers). Throughout this time when they were enclosed in their rooms, many went online and blogged about the entire event. One student even posted video clips that he had taken about the chaos in the school on his blog. This leads us to ponder- the media did not provide us with such detailed information, yet all these can be found on the blogs of the students present there and then during the killings. And this links back to another issue concerning blogging. If the mainstream media cannot be trusted to provide us with accurate information, can we approach blogs for more information?

It is quite obvious that there is a lot to learn from this incident. Hopefully we may all learn our lesson. The moral of the story? Treat others as you would want to be treated. I believe this is the essence of every action that we do.

Labels: crime, media

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