A very sad week

I can't begin to express the sadness and anger I feel over the events of this past week. I am sad for the people killed by the Korean student and their families trying to understand it all. I am angry at the media, once again, for the overkill they create in an awful time such as this.

I feel sadness for the shooter, who obviously had problems that went untreated. His unhappiness and torment must have been awful. (Will he have peace in death? Will he earn a place with God because of his illness?)

I feel very sad for his family, who came to this country for a better life. Hard working people trying to raise their kids and live a quiet life. They too have lost a loved one in all of this but the acts have bestowed them with shame and guilt and in the Asian culture, dishonor. They live in Centreville, just a short way from my own home. Several of those killed went to the high school that is only two miles away. Once again this quiet community grieves.

And now I come to my anger. The media is relentless with its pursuit. The same pictures and interviews have been rebroadcast over and over again. What is it about seeing people in grief sobbing with tears streaming down their faces? This isn't news!!!

They have dogged the neighborhood in which the shooter's family lives. They have made it necessary for the homeowner's association to forbid cars other than residents' to enter the streets surrounding the quiet townhome. They continue to show pictures of the front of an empty house. This isn't news!!!

It was necessary for me to drive to the UPS depot, which took me past the high school. TV satellite trucks with telescoping antennae on their tops, several groups of 8 or more reporters crowded both sides of the street, photographers with cameras draped around their necks cavalierly strolling across the street forcing all traffic to come to a halt, almost daring them not to stop. This is news???? The high school, through the local police district, placed the building off limits to the press and tv stations. It was turning into a circus.

I know this was a hugh news story, but respect for the dead and the families, on both sides of things, is necessary. I hate to see what's going to happen once they start to have funerals.

My heart is so heavy. All of those lives stopped so quickly. God bless them all.

(An as an afterthough, we had another layoff at work this week. Twenty five of my coworkers are now unemployed. As I receive their field materials in the next week or two, I'll be saying goodbye to some very dear friends. This is sad for me too.)