Prayers & Sorrow for VT families

Sitting in my classroom yesterday waiting for the final 5 literary theory classes of the semester to begin, word came in that there had been a horrible shooting incident at Virginia Tech. As more information poured in and word of the number of wounded & dead reached us, my mind began to travel towards the family & friends of those caught in the horror of the moment. Now, reading news reports, I find that the young man will go down in history for committing the worst mass shooting rampage ever was one of those students that could have easily been in one of my English courses -- one of the ones many of us tend to ignore. Recent research work has lead me to understand that this young man was in a group more marginalized than many realize -- he was what we in the writing center world refer to as "Generation 1.5." My research has shown me that these students, often more than those students identified by many as ESL or international students, was a young man without a real nation to call his own. Foreign-born, U.S. educated, living on the fringes of the Anglo society, &, clearly, suffering from emotional problems, I can see how he is now being viewed as a bomb ticking down to destruction.

Many cultures do not recognize mental illness & seeking assistance, especially as a male, can be an embarrassment for both the person & their extended family. Problems are to be dealt with through perseverance & within the private privileges of the family. Having witnessed the horror that accompanied a fellow middle school instructor's son's suicide years ago, the only son of a proud Chinese family, I came to recognize how short-sighted some cultures are about mental illness. My own family, including myself, has a long history of severe depression, suicide, & other mental illnesses so recognizing & addressing these concerns is something that I have worked hard to make my children aware of. Reading about how the faculty & students who knew this young man were concerned enough about him & the writing work that he did for classes to turn refer him for counseling tells me that this "child" was in desperate need of intervention. More attention must be taken by the public to actively pursue help for those showing signs of emotional duress so that horrors such as those at VT, my friend's son, the fellow UAA student who committed suicide last week, & so many others can be helped.

Today, my prayers go to those families & individuals at VT & in its surrounding community who have suffered the losses created by the desperate acts committed yesterday. I also pray for & weep with the family of the young man who was moved to such destructive measures, to the taking of both his life & the lives of others. A suicide note, rambling or well-composed, will never tell us what was really happening in the mind of those who commit such atrocities - what we can know, without a doubt, is that had more aggressive action been taken on the part of the man's family & the university, many lives would have been saved. So, pray -- pray for the families, pray for the victims, pray for those injured & recovering, &, more importantly, pray for those who sit on that edge even now that help may find them or they may find their way to help so that no more tears need be shed for useless losses.