And I don't mean to trivialize it, as the headline would suggest I'm doing. It just seems is has a "been there, done that" sort of feeling to it, something I never want to think or feel when it comes to these types of things. But in every incident since Columbine, it seems less shocking by the incident, with almost a feeling of desensitization coming with it.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/27/justice/ohio-school-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
One student was killed and four more were injured when T.J. Lane, a student at Chardon High School walked up to a table of four fellow students he may have known and opened fire. The incident occurred around 7:30 am, police say, as the students Lane fired upon were waiting for their bus to take them to vocational trade school. The violence could have been much worse had he not been chased from the school by a football coach who was supervising the students. U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan had the following to say regarding Frank Hall, the football coach responsible for breaking up the incident:
With all due respect to the football coach, who I do respect and admire for heroicly going after Lane, despite him wiedling a gun, so much of me is angry, as this was a preventable situation. Little has been said thusfar about possible motive, Lane's social status, or the way he's received by his fellow students, but Facebook posts by Lane entered almost two months ago revealed a very disturbed individual. On December 30, 2011, Lane wrote:
I'm sorry, but how does a post like this slip through the cracks? I don't know a great deal about Facebook, admittedly, but did noone read this post, and become the slightest bit concerned? Did noone read this and feel the need to intervene, whether it be an adult or a friend? However poetic this may sound, and words full of symbolism, did noone take this as a serious threat, and get him help? This was written a full two months before the incident took place. Further, if he was writing things such as this, how erratic must his behavior have gotten? I'm disapointed and appaled that his parents didn't see some sign of trouble, and get him help. I felt the same way when the Columbine shooting occurred, and subsequent incidents afterwards. How do the warning signs slip by, unnoticed? It baffles me, truly.
Fellow student Nate Mueller, who was wounded in the incident, said the following:
Being in Mueller's position is one I can't fathom in the slightest. He was shot in the ear himself, and watched as one of his friends die. Four other students are hospitilized with two in critical condition, and two are in stable condition.
Put yourself into Mueller's position. You're sitting with frienders, waiting for the bus, and someone you don't know approaches you and opelns fire on you. How do you rationalize or make sense of the incident? Mueller may have been the biggest bastard in the school, and may have harrassed or given a hard time to students like Lane, with Lane taking notice. But he doesn't deserve this, and now his life will be forever changed by this incident.
I'm interested in several takes on this story, and I talked about some of it in the opening. We've seen incidents like this so many times that they almost seem commonplace. I don't know Lane's home life, but we've seen so many troubled kids slip through the cracks, and actions such as thishave resulted. This isn't something that simply happens over time, as the building anger and rage in the young man built to a point where he acted out in the most extreme way.
In the age of social media, with his post open and viewable for others to see, how does something like this slip through the cracks? How does a student become this disturbed without anyone noticing?
Have we as a society become disillusioned by such incidents that the shock, anger, and overflow of emotions are no longer there?
How would you personally recover if you were Nate Mueller, and you not only were injured yourself, but saw the death of a friend?
All thoughts and discussion on the incident in any direction you please is more then welcome.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/27/justice/ohio-school-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
One student was killed and four more were injured when T.J. Lane, a student at Chardon High School walked up to a table of four fellow students he may have known and opened fire. The incident occurred around 7:30 am, police say, as the students Lane fired upon were waiting for their bus to take them to vocational trade school. The violence could have been much worse had he not been chased from the school by a football coach who was supervising the students. U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan had the following to say regarding Frank Hall, the football coach responsible for breaking up the incident:
"Preliminary reports indicate were it not for the extraordinary courage of a teacher who chased the shooter out of the school, and if not for the speedy reaction of school leaders, the toll of these shootings could have been much worse".
With all due respect to the football coach, who I do respect and admire for heroicly going after Lane, despite him wiedling a gun, so much of me is angry, as this was a preventable situation. Little has been said thusfar about possible motive, Lane's social status, or the way he's received by his fellow students, but Facebook posts by Lane entered almost two months ago revealed a very disturbed individual. On December 30, 2011, Lane wrote:
"In a quaint lonely town, (where there) sits a man with a frown (who) longed for only one thing, the world to bow at his feet. He was better than the rest, all those ones he detests, within their castles, so vain."Feel death, not just mocking you. Not just stalking you but inside of you. Wriggle and writhe. Feel smaller beneath my might. Seizure in the Pestilence that is my scythe. Die, all of you."
I'm sorry, but how does a post like this slip through the cracks? I don't know a great deal about Facebook, admittedly, but did noone read this post, and become the slightest bit concerned? Did noone read this and feel the need to intervene, whether it be an adult or a friend? However poetic this may sound, and words full of symbolism, did noone take this as a serious threat, and get him help? This was written a full two months before the incident took place. Further, if he was writing things such as this, how erratic must his behavior have gotten? I'm disapointed and appaled that his parents didn't see some sign of trouble, and get him help. I felt the same way when the Columbine shooting occurred, and subsequent incidents afterwards. How do the warning signs slip by, unnoticed? It baffles me, truly.
Fellow student Nate Mueller, who was wounded in the incident, said the following:
"I was sitting with others at a table in the cafeteria when he approached us. I didn't recognize him, myself. My friends were crawling on the floor, and one of my friends was bent over the table, and he was shot. It was almost like a firecracker went off. I turned around and saw (Lane) standing with a gun, and I saw him take a shot. It's pretty fake to me, still, it all feels like a movie."
Being in Mueller's position is one I can't fathom in the slightest. He was shot in the ear himself, and watched as one of his friends die. Four other students are hospitilized with two in critical condition, and two are in stable condition.
Put yourself into Mueller's position. You're sitting with frienders, waiting for the bus, and someone you don't know approaches you and opelns fire on you. How do you rationalize or make sense of the incident? Mueller may have been the biggest bastard in the school, and may have harrassed or given a hard time to students like Lane, with Lane taking notice. But he doesn't deserve this, and now his life will be forever changed by this incident.
I'm interested in several takes on this story, and I talked about some of it in the opening. We've seen incidents like this so many times that they almost seem commonplace. I don't know Lane's home life, but we've seen so many troubled kids slip through the cracks, and actions such as thishave resulted. This isn't something that simply happens over time, as the building anger and rage in the young man built to a point where he acted out in the most extreme way.
In the age of social media, with his post open and viewable for others to see, how does something like this slip through the cracks? How does a student become this disturbed without anyone noticing?
Have we as a society become disillusioned by such incidents that the shock, anger, and overflow of emotions are no longer there?
How would you personally recover if you were Nate Mueller, and you not only were injured yourself, but saw the death of a friend?
All thoughts and discussion on the incident in any direction you please is more then welcome.