How can creating a community of understanding help prevent tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech?

Answer 1

as a 16 year old high school sophomore, i understand that there are a lot of issues with today's world that probably help cause these things, though there are probably some underlying personal issues beside those. either way, society today is incredibly cut-throat, brutal, and way too fast. there is so much pressure from parents, teachers, and everyone for kids today to always go go go. we're being pushed to fully understand and cope with things that previous generations didn't encounter until graduate school, and it applies to both academics and social issues. My generation is being forced to grow up too fast. and the fast pace of society means that if you start to stumble, u are going to be trampled and left in the dust. Even though so much more is being expected of us, we're not getting the comfort and support we need to deal with all the stress and anxiety. Our world is a traumatic place to live, just turn on the news! I think we need to slow down, and take the time to focus on the individual person, ask people how they're feeling everyday. And don't expect too much from us, we need time to grow up, and a hand to hold along the way.

Answer 2

way is that to be taken offensivly to anyone that may read this I am in that generation. People are becoming less and less concerned for others and their well-being. Sure, someone can sit there and say "I care about what happend at Virginia Tech", but can or will they really mean it when it is said? Even after learning the complete truth from every facet of the situation and still FEEL for everysingle person involved? If there was a world wide network such as this site and people with minds ready to be opened, leaving all preconvieved notions in the past. This would really have to be an intence experiance of patience and love but people would start to relearn how they view others and not get hung up on the bad but the beauty every living being posseses.
This might be really hard for some to even grasp and for me it is mind boggling but with will there is always a way. I know I am willing to go that way and reconnect with people and love others for all the flaws and beauty they posses. I would take so much joy in a group like this because the growth would take place on either end of all connecting.

Answer 3

Trust, understanding and love is something I see as very lacking especially for the "I want generation". In no way is that to be taken offensivly to anyone that may read this I am in that generation. People are becoming less and less concerned for others and their well-being. Sure, someone can sit there and say "I care about what happend at Virginia Tech", but can or will they really mean it when it is said? Even after learning the complete truth from every facet of the situation and still FEEL for everysingle person involved? If there was a world wide network such as this site and people with minds ready to be opened, leaving all preconvieved notions in the past. This would really have to be an intence experiance of patience and love but people would start to relearn how they view others and not get hung up on the bad but the beauty every living being posseses.

Answer 4

The universities aren't going to do anything because that would cost money and might cast a legal blame they were some how responsible. Even homeland security wasn't able to stop this attack. Virginia tech does have a warning system (most commonly called an air raid siren) and some colleges, including Virginia tech have a policy to sound the alarm which required for every emergency to seek shelter and bar/shut the doors. In another recent study 90% of K-12 students have been bullied while they were at school so with all those bullies out there, there is just that much of a change for somebody to get dangerously violent since the schools and parents willing going to stop it.

Answer 5

I think after a tragedy like this the "what can WE do to prevent this" is such an impossible question. Sane, law-abiding, normal people understand already. Those who are mentally unstable and not receiving help or treatment do not understand. Cho was a threat to others and himself--that was already established several times in his adult life history, as reported by the latest Yahoo article. I think one reason that others were not notified of these dangers (his parents, friends, the university) were likely because Cho was over 18 (or maybe it's 21 in some states) and the doctor/patient confidentiality rule was applied. However, if a patient is discharged from a psyche unit, especially discharged on his own against medical advice, one way we can prevent tragedies is for that doctor/patient confidentiality to be waived REGARDLESS of age, and discussed only with people relevant to the patient. If someone is mentally unstable, perhaps not on medication or not taking care of his/her needs, shouldn't the family, friends and close contacts of that person know??? I understand privacy and confidentiality. I used to work in social services so I get that. But it's quite possible that these doctors on the psyche ward were bound by this law and therefore were not able to notify the university, parents, etc., of his problem. If the appropriate people really knew what was going on, they may have been able to help, i.e. prevent.

Answer 6

way is that to be taken offensivly to anyone that may read this I am in that generation. People are becoming less and less concerned for others and their well-being. Sure, someone can sit there and say "I care about what happend at Virginia Tech", but can or will they really mean it when it is said? Even after learning the complete truth from every facet of the situation and still FEEL for everysingle person involved? If there was a world wide network such as this site and people with minds ready to be opened, leaving all preconvieved notions in the past. This would really have to be an intence experiance of patience and love but people would start to relearn how they view others and not get hung up on the bad but the beauty every living being posseses.

Answer 7

happend at Virginia Tech", but can or will they really mean it when it is said? Even after learning the complete truth from every facet of the situation and still FEEL for everysingle person involved? If there was a world wide network such as this site and people with minds ready to be opened, leaving all preconvieved notions in the past. This would really have to be an intence experiance of patience and love but people would start to relearn how they view others and not get hung up on the bad but the beauty every living being posseses.
This might be really hard for some to even grasp and for me it is mind boggling but with will there is always a way. I know I am willing to go that way and reconnect with people and love others for all the flaws and beauty they posses. I would take so much joy in a group like this because the growth would take place on either end of all connecting.

Answer 8

As a society of individuals we keep a tight relationship with our family and those we love the most. For example, I do not know anybody besides my parents and my sister who would notice if I had gone missing over the period of a week. From that perspective, it is all too easy for one to think that everybody else is simply apathetic and does not care whether you lived or died. It is easy to get caught up in this negativity, become withdrawn, or even apathetic yourself. I believe most people (especially in the US) are isolated in their household bubbles - whether they are with family, live with their spouses or loved ones, or share a room in a dorm with another student. An event like the Virginia Tech tragedy will pop those bubbles for an extended period of time. (As was the case with the World Trade Center tragedy.) It will also cause a ripple effect. Those neighborhoods that were closest to the tragedy will come together. Colleges around the US will mourn and wonder what would have happened if it was on their campus. Parents of college students will call them up and ask if everything was ok, and how are classes going, and did you hear about...? But through all of this, there is still that disparity. In a society such as this one, it helps to be proactive, rather than reactive. And despite what many believe, we are indeed a society. In order to not only annoint, but perhaps prevent these tragedies, we need to start smiling and waving to passerbys, take part in community events, and basically become people advocates. Only by doing this can we create the best kind of world for our children and ourselves.

Answer 9

Creating any sort of community to help others understand not only themselves but other's views is a great idea. I think that if it were possibal to have trust, understanding and love incorporated into such a program could help the masses.

Trust, understanding and love is something I see as very lacking especially for the "I want generation". In no way is that to be taken offensivly to anyone that may read this I am in that generation. People are becoming less and less concerned for others and their well-being. Sure, someone can sit there and say "I care about what happend at Virginia Tech", but can or will they really mean it when it is said? Even after learning the complete truth from every facet of the situation and still FEEL for everysingle person involved? If there was a world wide network such as this site and people with minds ready to be opened, leaving all preconvieved notions in the past. This would really have to be an intence experiance of patience and love but people would start to relearn how they view others and not get hung up on the bad but the beauty every living being posseses.
This might be really hard for some to even grasp and for me it is mind boggling but with will there is always a way. I know I am willing to go that way and reconnect with people and love others for all the flaws and beauty they posses. I would take so much joy in a group like this because the growth would take place on either end of all connecting.
On the levle of people with minds that really don't see any hope than that is such a sad loss. On the upside word of mouth travles fast around this planet so those that arn't ready will be when someone close to them starts to grow in this process. Of course realistically some might never WANT to change how they think of and view others/situations but I say LOVE THEM without reguard of their unwillingness and see what may happen.

Answer 10

A community of understanding? I believe that place is called heaven. In the meantime, we simply have to hope some psychopath does not go on a rampage and start killing people for no apparent reason. Honestly, I think things could get worse in America. There are so many young people being forced to go to college and become successful. I have already seen what that has done to young people living in Japan. Japan has had a very high suicide rate. The Japanese live such stressful lives because they have to be so innovative in order to succeed in today's global economy. I don't believe the shooter at Virginia Tech was mature enough to be in that situation. He did have mental problems, but I don't believe most people less than thirty years old are mature enough to be in a situation like that. That's why we hear about shootings at public schools and things like this. The educational system puts an enormous amount of stress on young people. I think kids are trying to get into colleges when they are too young. I think they should work for a while and decide whether or not they believe college is really worth it. I was listening to Bill O'Reilly earlier today. He said the young man that gunned down those students had been in a mental institution before, but doctors never considered him to be a threat to society. That's how the shooter was able to purchase a gun. The solution is not to deny anyone that has had problems with depression the right to own guns. I think doctors made a mistake. They didn't spend enough time deciding whether or not the shooter was a threat to society.

Answer 11

I don't believe communities of understanding can help prevent tragedies like the one at Vir. Tech. There were enough signals that this young man was a time bomb waiting to go off that the best the authorities could have done was to expel him from the school after conferring with his parents and suggesting professional treatment for this young man.

That would not necessarily have prevented the tragedy.
It might have made it worse. He might have come back on campus and done worse damage than he did, unless he was put into a secure facility for the mentally disturbed.

People like this young man don't understand a community of understanding. Until he committed a crime there were no legal recourses open except the one I mentioned above. He was consumed by his own evil in a way that no community can hope to touch.

I think, if anything, Americans try to be too understanding
of the wrong things.

Maggie LeMasters