A wonderful tribute from a new neighbor

I was back in DeKalb for a few hours this weekend with Jess for her
alumni symposium for the journalism department, and on the way out of town I wanted to go past Upstaging, since I hadn'tseen it since all the construction was finished on the buildings. While it looks much nicer than I remember, it was also nice to see they had a gobo made up with the remembrance ribbon for the NIU shooting of Feb 14th. You can count the number of years Upstaging has been in the neighboring town of Sycamore on one hand, but I know they've already taken up a relationship with the theatre department at NIU, as well as giving many students employment, of which I was one my last year there. Whoever made the decision at the company to put this up, I thank you. It's been tough for me, still knowing people living and attending classes in DeKalb, and while this tribute is a little off the beaten path, it's nice to see such a new part of the community making this kind display tobremember the tragedy that happened on campus which won't soon be forgotten.

disturbing sight

I was driving to meet some friends from work for drinks tonight, when out of the corner of my eye I saw the poor remains of a small animal. Or so I thought. Morbid curiosity abound in me, after looking for other traffic I took a closer look as I went by. It turned out not to be a small animal, but someone's weave, left knottty and abandoned on the median of a right turn lane, laying there like a hubcap no one cared about going back to pick up. I'm not sure if I'm more disturbed by the fact that people actually wear those things, or that eventually some bird will make the base of it's nest out of the discarded piece laying on the side of the road.

searching

I'm aware this may come off badly, but I'm not in the least bit shocked by what happened at Virginia Tech earlier this week. Saddened, yes, but not shocked. I've seen this too many times already to be surprised when it happens.

What I feel is awe, puzzlement, questions. Why does this continue to happen, and in what seems to be an increasing trend? I'm relieved that for once tv/movies/music/video games haven't been the first things out of the collective publics mouth. While some people may base what they do from these pop culture stimuli, if they were the real cause of this kind of violence, would it not happen much more often? Of course, even having something like this happen once it one time too many.

But so I want to know: why? Why would someone have that kind of disregard for the life of another individual? Why do lay their blame on certain groups of people? At Columbine, the shooters cursed the jocks and preps for the miserable high school experience. In this case I saw many times that the wealthy were mentioned in reasons for Cho Seung-Hui's state of distress. Perhaps the package sent to NBC will shed some light on that, but likely not much.

And why never talk to anyone? Did he feel alone? Was it depression? Anxiety? A language barrier? Or was he really just so angry with the world that he couldn't communicate pleasantries? And what was the breaking point? People said in interviews that when they heard the news they immediately had a thought of who it might be. If someone appears this way to people but manages to keep in in check for so long (the suicide counseling occurred in late 2005), what suddenly causes the rampage?

I can't imagine what people at Virginia Tech are going through and feeling right now. I work with someone who has a relative attending VT, and seeing the concern wash over her when the news of the shootings broke was an odd feeling, the concern that is absorbed by people surrounding those dealing with a tragedy. I will probably never meet this other person's relative, but I'm sitting there hoping that they're alright.

But I feel that with the frequency of this kind of violence that rather than looking where to place the blame, we should concentrate more on preventing these tragedies in the future.

Ineptitude?

Why is it that the majority of people trying to convey a message close to their heart don't have the decency to first run it through a grammar check before plastering it all over the web and through email? And why is it that the messages that get forwarded are the worst ones? Here's an example from a recent email received comparing the lives of President Ford, James Brown, and Saddam Hussein:

"There is only one choice and Gerald Ford's life exemplifies the nobility of choosing to walk in harmony with The Creator through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as his Redeemer.

James Brown choose to walk in the flesh. His life's work glorified the flesh and his death magnified the flesh.

Sadam Hussein choose evil. He was a narcissistic megalomaniac. His life glorified evil and his death was gruesome."

Well, where to start? I think I'll start with the fact that the use of "choosing" in the first example obviously prompted the the incorrect use of "choose" in the next two. Next, I will not be one to disagree that James Brown lived a life of the flesh, but one must also take account of the fact that his break into music came with a gospel group, and gospel music in general being one of the cornerstones of his sound. I think the author is still just mad he played a pastor in The Blues Brothers, and probably hasn't ever shaken their groove thang.

The most glaring thing - to me at least - is that this person is writing about recent events, and CANNOT SPELL SADDAM CORRECTLY. Saddam Hussein has been a household name for the last five years, and well known since the 1980's. If you're going to be brazen enough to spout out your religious beliefs to the general public, please at least be able to correctly identify a name used almost daily in the news, even after his death.

In addition, while their reasoning for Saddam being evil walks the path of his deeds against others, the tone of the the entire email - as I'm sure many can pick up from the short excerpt above - is that people who don't follow the teachings of the Bible are not good people. I respect their right to hold this belief, but I don't feel that it will help our culture further itself toward acceptance of all those that reside within our borders.

Those that wave the flag that America was founded on Christian morals and beliefs must be forgetting the part of the tale where the settlers drove the Native Americans out of their land and further west, eventually designating certain areas where they can live and open casinos. So really America was founded on disrupting an established culture and implementing their own. Sounds like current events to me.