I’M TIRED OF writing about school shootings.
I remember Columbine. And Paducah. And Santee. And grade schools and high schools and other schools that have since passed from the headlines. Now Virginia Tech has added its name to the list in letters of blood.
We keep watching. It keeps happening.
Again. And again. And again.
By now, we know the drill. It’s already started. And any halfway decent Hollywood scriptwriter could tell you what will happen next.
First, there’s the shock and the horror as the body count rises. Ten becomes 20 becomes 30. Almost invariably, the final number is the shooter himself.
Then we circle the wagons. It couldn’t happen here, we tell ourselves. Say it couldn’t happen here. And someone else outlines in patient detail that yes, it could and there’s not a lot we can do about it.
Then we look at the killer or killers. We rip their life apart, looking for signs, warnings. Invariably there are red flags that point to a “troubled youth” — or at least, they do in our 20/20 hindsight.
Then comes the round of blame. It was the guns’ fault. It was the school’s fault. It was the fault of the parents who should have seen or the friends who should have warned or the music and video games that should not have been played. Hearings may be held. Schools will examine security procedures that have been examined a hundred times before, looking for any loophole, anything that can prevent the unthinkable.
And then time will pass. The tragedy will pass. And our worries will go back to sleep.
Right up until the next shooting.
Again. And again. And again.
How many more times does this have to happen before we find a way to break the cycle?
I don’t have the answers. I have never claimed to. But why in heaven’s name can’t we give a little more concentration to the questions?
Part of it is because the human mind can only hold on to pain for so long. To dwell too much, too deeply might drive any of us insane. But how many of us dwell at all?
Part of it is because the questions defy any easy answer. We lash out at the tools of violence — the guns, the games, the other things you’ve all heard before — without looking at the actual causes. What is creating this anger, this need to destroy in our young? Why is it catching some and not others? These are long-term questions, ones that won’t be answered in one column or one year’s worth of committee hearings.
But somebody needs to keep asking them. To quest for an answer, even if it’s incomplete.
Again. And again. And again.
Maybe the problem never will be completely solved. Like it or not, we are a violent race. Slowly, only slowly have we begun to place some curbs on those tendencies. Laws have been created. Slaves have been freed. Genocides have been condemned and even, at times, fought.
But we still find ways to hurt our own. Particularly our children, those beings that we should protect the most zealously of all.
I hope, I pray that we can stay the course. We must face that anger. We must find ways to recognize it, defuse it, guard our children against it. We will not be perfect. But we must not give up.
Otherwise, more blood will be shed in our schools. And the images will return.
Again. And again. And again.
Scott Rochat’s e-mail address is rochat@emporiagazette.com.